ST. LOUIS, Mo. – “A road win is a good win, no questions asked, and we earned it.”
That’s how Missouri State University-West Plains Grizzly Basketball Head Coach Yancey Walker summed up his team’s 71-68 victory Wednesday night, Feb. 4, against St. Louis Community College in St. Louis, Missouri. The victory ups the Grizzlies overall record to 18-8. Their National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) Region 16 record remains at 3-2.
“It was a choppy, physical game that seemed to fly by,” he said. “We showed toughness by responding to pull out the victory.”
The first half proved to be a nip and tuck battle with neither team gaining more than a 6-point advantage. By the end of the period, the Grizzlies were up 35-33. The Grizzlies took off in the second half, however, and built a 49-37 lead by the 15:18 mark, but the Archers, and NJCAA Division II team, battled back with their 3-point shots and kept the game close until the Grizzlies finally pulled out the win off a layup and a couple of free throws in the final 10 seconds of the game.
“Our second half defense was much more sound, especially late,” Walker said. “We were able to create some turnovers off of our press, and we got them to take some quick shots with it. What we have to continue to get better at is defending the 3-point line. That almost cost us dearly again in this game.”
Offensively, the Grizzlies took advantage of their size and attacked the basket, outscoring the Archers by 12 in combined points in the paint and second chance points. “We discussed how many threes we had taken in the first half and that we needed to attack more in the second half,” Walker said. “Ngor Barnaba and Terrel Martin-Garcia were a tremendous force inside, and Desmond Rorie had a crucial tip-dunk off of an offensive rebound late in the game.”
Overall, the Grizzlies connected on 27 of 59 shots from the field for 45.8 percent, six of 20 attempts from 3-point range for 30 percent and 11 of 17 shots from the free throw line for 64.7 percent. They also collected 47 rebounds, dished out 11 assists and committed 17 turnovers.
“We rebounded the ball very well, and really, that was a by product of how well we did taking advantage of our size,” the coach said.
Leading scorers for the Grizzlies were sophomore guard Jameel Moore with 22 points, followed by freshman forwards Martin-Garcia with 18 and Barnaba 17, and sophomore guard Craig Eubanks 10. Martin-Garcia, Barnaba and freshman guard Jahir Cabeza combined to grab 27 of the Grizzlies 47 rebounds.
The Archers hit 26 of 65 attempts from the field for 40 percent, nine of 22 attempts from 3-point range for 40.9 percent and seven of 14 shots from the free throw line for 50 percent. They also had 32 rebounds, 15 assists and seven turnovers. Leading scorers were Sean Robinson with 16 points, Jake Hensel 14, Donald Stribbling 12 and Jeremy Vergas 11.
The Grizzlies return home Saturday to host the College of Faith from West Memphis, Arkansas, at 7 p.m. in Joe Paul Evans Arena at the West Plains Civic Center. The night’s original opponent, Quakerdale Promise Academy of New Providence, Iowa, was unable to field a complete team for the game, Walker said, and College of Faith, which competed in the Grizzly New Year’s Classic Jan. 2-3, agreed to fill the void.
Walker reminded fans to tune into the new “Above the Rim” streaming live video segment at 10 a.m. every Monday at www.ihigh.com/msuwestplains to learn the latest news on the Grizzlies as they continue their march through the 2014-15 season. Those who cannot tune in live can view the segment later in the archives of the website. Fans also may ask Walker questions through Twitter by using the hashtag #GrizzlyTalk, or they may e-mail questions to AboveTheRim@MissouriState.edu.
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.