WILBURTON, Okla. – Missed opportunities cost the Missouri State University-West Plains Grizzly Basketball team its second loss of the season.
The Grizzlies, 7-2, fell to the Eastern Oklahoma State College Mountaineers 100-96 Saturday, Nov. 22, in Wilburton in overtime after overcoming an 18-point deficit in the second half to send it to the extra period.
“This was our largest deficit of the season, and we showed strong resilience to come back and force overtime,” Grizzly Basketball Head Coach Yancey Walker said. “We just let several opportunities to close the game out slip away.”
The Grizzlies also had to battle back a 13-point deficit in the first half to go into halftime only down 48-42. In the second half, after letting the Mountaineers go up 70-52, the Grizzlies began their charge back, outscoring the home team 47-41 in the second half to send the game into overtime.
“The halftime adjustment was pretty simple,” Walker said. “We had to be more aggressive with our close outs to take away their threes. We did a much better job of that in the second half. We kept executing and really never panicked. We got a run going in the second half and made plays down the stretch to get to overtime.
Overall, the Grizzlies hit 26 of 62 attempts from the field for 41.9 percent, six of 20 shots from 3-point range for 30 percent, and 38 of 53 attempts from the free throw line for 71.7 percent. They also recorded 42 rebounds (16 offensive), 12 assists, 19 turnovers, one block and six steals.
Leading scorers were sophomore guard Jameel Moore with 26 points, freshman forward Terrel Martin-Garcia 16 points, and sophomore guard Craig Eubanks and freshman guard Dazhonetae Bennett each with 15 points. Garcia recorded a double-double by adding 13 rebounds to the stat sheet.
The Mountaineers hit 34 of 76 shots from the field for 44.7 percent, 14 of 31 3-point shots for 45.2 percent and 18 of 30 free throw attempts for 60 percent. They also had 40 rebounds (17 offensive), 13 assists, 16 turnovers, two blocks and nine steals
Leading scorers were Thomas Alexander 24 points; Vic Alston and Jeremy Jones, each with 17; and Keith Barron and Charles Shaw, both with 11.
The Grizzlies will return to the road Tuesday, Nov. 25, for a 7 p.m. contest against Cowley College in Arkansas City, Kansas, before hosting the Grizzly Thanksgiving Classic Friday and Saturday, Nov. 28 and 29, in Joe Paul Evans Arena in the West Plains Civic Center.
Joining the Grizzlies in the two-day event will be Cloud County Community College, Concordia, Kansas; Snead State Community College, Boaz, Alabama; and Quakerdale Prep Academy, New Providence, Iowa. The Grizzlies will play Snead State at 7 p.m. Friday and Cloud County at 7 p.m. Saturday.
“We have a big week this week. We are at Cowley, then we have Snead State and Cloud County at home. Snead runs the Princeton offense, and Cloud beat Iowa Western soundly earlier in the season,” Walker said.
For more information about the Grizzly Basketball program, visit the team’s website at http://wp.missouristate.edu/grizzly/bb.htm or call the Grizzly Basketball office at 417-255-7993. Complete game statistics can be found at http://stats.njcaa.org/sports/mbkb/2014-15/div1/teams/missouristateuniversitywestplains.