WEST PLAINS, Mo. – The Missouri State University-West Plains Grizzly Basketball team closed out the fall portion of its season with a 101-88 win over Highland (Kansas) Community College Saturday night, Dec. 13, in Joe Paul Evans Arena at the West Plains Civic Center.
The Grizzlies will take a 12-5 record into the remainder of their season, which will resume Jan. 2 and 3 with the Grizzly New Year’s Classic in Joe Paul Evans Arena. Joining the Grizzlies on the court in the two-day event will be Coffeyville (Kansas) Community College, College of Faith of West Memphis, Arkansas, and Redlands Community College of El Reno, Oklahoma.
Grizzly Basketball Head Coach Yancey Walker said defense played a key factor in Saturday’s victory. “This was another strong defensive effort by our team. We held Highland to 37 percent shooting in the first half, and we defended the 3-point line very well. Statistically, we were not as sound defensively in the second half, but when we look deeper into the percentages, we find that 16 of their 19 field goals came after it was a 34-point margin. Outside of Jamal LaFond and Corey Baker, who had 9 and 7 points, respectively, in the first half, all of their leading scorers got their points when the game was in hand,” he said.
Just as they did earlier in the week against Independence (Kansas) Community College, the Grizzlies started out strong, outscoring Highland 12-2 in the first four and a half minutes of the game. From there, they continued to dominate, going into the halftime break with a 56-31 advantage. The Grizzlies reached their largest lead of the game, 34 points, at the 14:29 mark in the second half. Highland outscored the Grizzlies 57-45 in the second half, but it wasn’t enough to make up the ground the team had already lost.
Game statistics show the Grizzlies hit 37 of 76 attempts from the field for 48.7 percent, 13 of 29 3-point attempts for 44.8 percent and 14 of 19 shots from the free throw line for 73.7 percent. In addition, they recorded 44 rebounds (14 offensive), 25 assists, six steals, five blocks and 13 turnovers. Leading scorers were sophomore guard Craig Eubanks with 18 points; freshman forward Terrel Martin-Garcia and freshman guards Dazhonetae Bennett and Keeton Tennison each with 16 points; sophomore guard Jameel Moore with 13 points; and freshman forward Ngor Barnaba 11.
Moore set a new school record in assists, recording 16 for the evening. The previous record holder was Logan Nutt, who recorded 14 against Carl Albert State College, Poteau, Oklahoma, on Nov. 22, 2008.
“I don’t like to point out individuals very often, but on top of setting the school assist record, Jameel Moore has had back-to-back double-doubles in points and assists,” Walker said. “That is two-fold because an assist can’t be awarded unless the shot is made; therefore, his teammates helped with that record, but he is passing the ball and running the team very well right now.”
As for the offense as a whole, the coach said, “we attacked very well inside, and that opened up the outside for us. We had an assist on 68 percent of our baskets. We shared the ball very well, and we were bordering on exception in transition and off of offensive rebounds.”
Highland hit 30 of 65 shots from the field for 46.2 percent, four of 20 attempts from 3-point range for 20 percent and 24 of 34 shots from the free throw line for 70.6 percent. In addition, the team recorded 34 rebounds, 14 assists, seven steals, two blocks and 13 turnovers. Leading scorers were Karon Phillips with 19 points, Baker 17, Kyle-Michael Rose 16, LaFond 15 and Marquis Yates 13.
Walker said he would like to thank Jerry Hall, Rhonda Blankenship and the Holiday Inn Express for sponsoring the game. “All of the teams that stay there when they play us are always extremely complimentary of how the staff at Holiday Inn treats them,” the coach said.
Walker said he and the Grizzlies are glad to have a 12-5 record at this point in the season. “We still can’t figure out what happened at Iowa Western, but of our other three losses, we were in the game and had our chances against Eastern Oklahoma and Southwestern Illinois College. We learned a lot from the Cloud County game and got better from it.
“The entire purpose of these games is to prepare us for Region 16 play, and our schedule has done that and will continue to do that with Redlands, Coffeyville and Eastern Oklahoma in a five-day span when we come back,” he continued. “We’ll have to be ready. Outside of State Fair, our region opponents are 39-8 (82.9 percent). Against NJCAA Division I teams, they are 17-7 (70.8 percent). We have played the toughest schedule, but each game will be a battle, and we have already been through several of those. Add our first three games back to that, and we will have been baptized by fire once again.
“I’m proud of how our guys have played so far,” Walker said. “We’ve had some young team moments, but we have gotten better as the year has progressed. We simply have to maintain our focus as we move forward.”
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.