The Riverland men’s basketball team dropped a pair of heartbreakers over the weekend as they fell 78-76 at Itasca in overtime Friday and lost 78-77 at Northland Saturday.

The Blue Devils (7-4 overall) trailed both games by double digits and came back to lead each game by single digits before bowing out. RCC missed a game winning three against Itasca and gave up a game winning three at the buzzer to Northland.

“These are two of the toughest losses I’ve had to take as a coach,” RCC head coach Scott Koenigs said. “It’s extemely frustrating.”

The culprits in each game were missed free throws and foul trouble. RCC shot under 60 percent on free throws in both games and it had three players foul out in the loss to Northland.

“You’ve got to play much better than the home team up here to get a win,” RCC head coach Scott Koenigs said. “Itasca played man-to-man defense for the last 19 minutes and was called for three fouls. (Against Northland) it got to the point where we couldn’t touch anybody.”

Zach Bunch had 18 points and three assists against Itsaca and 17 points, seven rebounds and seven assists against Northland, and Taylor Morgan had 16 points and 14 rebounds against Itasca.

Itasca 78, RCC 76, OT

RCC scoring: Jeff Clark-Neal, 19; Zach Bunch, 18; Taylor Morgan, 16; Wayne Canady, 10; Marcus Ratliff, 4; Shane Barry, 3; Andrew Kaiser, 3; Keith Thames, 3; free throws: 57 percent (12-for-21); three-pointers: 26 percent (6-for-23); rebounds: 52 (Morgan, 14)

Northland 78, RCC 77

RCC scoring: Ratliff, 17; Bunch, 17; Clark-Neal, 12; Morgan, 12; Canady, 10; free throws: 53 percent (10-for-19); three-pointers: 35 percent (9-for-26)