97s in BB v many fish

Hi,

I decide to play my suited 1 gapper as the players in the pot are very active and I have witnessed them chasing draws many times ina sample of under 100 hands. I could have even gone for an iso raise but didn't want to bloat the pot with a weak holding.

After flopping TP and with noone showing any aggression I decide to bet my TP in position.
I am happy to take it down right here as there are so many turn cards that I won't like against multi opponents. If I get called I still have a hand that will be ahead a large % of the time, especially against two fish (SB 53/3, UTG 39/5). Is this considered a high variance play??

After getting called by two opps and checked round to me again I decide to bet again to protect my hand. Now SB shoves his small stack and UTG calls which makes an easy call for me getting such a big price.

When it is checked to me on the river by UTG I check behind as I will only be getting called/raised by better hands. Although I am still confident I am ahead a check raise by UTG would make me spew!

Is this play okay? I will guess at no?

Full Tilt, $0.05/$0.10 No Limit Hold'em Cash, 8 Players
Poker Tools Powered By Holdem Manager - The Ultimate Poker Software Suite.

Hero (CO): $19.89 (198.9 bb)
BTN: $17.80 (178 bb)
SB: $2.16 (21.6 bb)
BB: $4.48 (44.8 bb)
UTG+2: $29.85 (298.5 bb)
MP1: $6.47 (64.7 bb)
MP2: $9.85 (98.5 bb)
MP3: $6.41 (64.1 bb)

Preflop: Hero is CO with 9 7
Hero posts BB OOP, UTG+2 calls $0.10, 2 folds, MP3 calls $0.10, Hero checks, BTN folds, SB completes, BB checks

Flop: ($0.55) 3 4 9 (5 players)
SB checks, BB checks, UTG+2 checks, MP3 checks, Hero bets $0.38, SB calls $0.38, BB folds, UTG+2 calls $0.38, MP3 folds

Turn: ($1.69) 5 (3 players)
SB checks, UTG+2 checks, Hero bets $1.18, SB raises to $1.68 and is all-in, UTG+2 calls $1.68, Hero calls $0.50

River: ($6.73) 4 (3 players, 1 is all-in)
UTG+2 checks, Hero checks

Results: