WEST PLAINS, Mo. – The Missouri State University-West Plains Grizzly Basketball team upped its season record to 4-0 after winning both of its games in the Holiday Inn Express Grizzly Tip-Off Classic tournament this past weekend in Joe Paul Evans Arena at the West Plains Civic Center.
Friday, the Grizzlies defeated Graceland University’s junior varsity squad from Lamoni, Iowa, 112-59, and Saturday, they downed College of Faith, West Memphis, Arkansas, 95-73. In the tournament’s other games, State Fair Community College from Sedalia also won both of its contests, defeating College of Faith 118-92 on Friday and Graceland 99-64 on Saturday.
Grizzly Basketball Head Coach Yancey Walker said his team accomplished their goals for the tournament “for the most part,” but noted there’s still room for improvement. “Our focus for the game against Graceland was to play to our level and control every aspect of the game for the entire game. We did for most of it. They came out and hit a lot of shots from the outside, but we held them at 13 points for a long time,” he said.
For the game, the Grizzly defense held Graceland to 38.3 percent shooting from the field and 29.6 percent shooting from 3-point range. Conversely, the Grizzly offense connected on 51.8 percent of their shots from the field and 35.3 percent of their 3-point attempts.
“We have played games similar to this before, but I don’t remember our offense clicking as well as it did on Friday,” he said.
Leading the way offensively for the Grizzlies was freshman forward Jacob Smith, who took advantage of the opportunity on “Winona Night” to showcase the talents he developed while playing for the Winona High School Wildcats by scoring 22 points and grabbing five rebounds.
“Jacob Smith answered the bell in a big way for Winona Night. They should be very proud of him, as are we,” Walker said. “I’d like to thank all of the fans from Winona who helped with the great crowd we had on Friday night.”
Other Grizzlies scoring in double digits were sophomore forward Ngor Barnaba with 17 points, freshman forward Devonte Campbell 12, and sophomore forward Terrel Martin-Garcia and freshman guard Chase Vassell each with 11. Barnaba also had 21 rebounds for the night, putting him second on the Grizzlies’ all-time list for most rebounds in a game, and Martin-Garcia’s 11 points and 11 rebounds gives him his third double-double performance in as many games.
“Ngor did an outstanding job on the boards. We’ve talked a lot about improving that part of his game, and he has responded very well,” Walker said.
Graceland’s leading scorers were Romeo Edwards with 19 points and Jalen Brown with 17.
Saturday’s game against College of Faith was a concern for Walker. “Like the Link Year Prep game, this one was worrisome because College of Faith has talent, and their players are the same age as our freshmen,” he explained. “The shot well the night before, and they went to the free throw line 30 times. We needed to finish better inside, but for the most part, we used our size advantage (to win this game). We took 59 shots and only 17 were taken outside the paint.”
For the game, the Grizzlies shot 57.7 percent from the field, 28.6 percent from 3-point range and 75 percent from the free throw line. College of Faith hit 38.5 percent of its shots from the field, 36 percent from 3-point range and 57.1 percent from the charity stripe.
Leading scorers for the Grizzlies were Martin-Garcia with 25 points, Campbell 18, and freshman guards Vonny Irvin and Mike Asemota each with 10. College of Faith was led by Meron Hardy with 22 points and Jordan Brown with 19.
The Grizzlies return to the road this week. They will face Ottawa University JV at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 11, in Ottawa, Kansas, then Iowa Western Community College and Des Moines Area Community College Friday and Saturday, Nov. 13 and 14, respectively, in the Holiday Inn/Hampton Inn Reiver Classic hosted by Iowa Western in Council Bluffs.
“We have to keep improving,” Walker said. “We have two big games this weekend at Iowa Western, and both teams are very good.” Iowa Western is ranked No. 23 in the NJCAA division I men’s basketball preseason poll and Des Moines is No. 8 in the division II preseason poll. The Grizzlies’ next home game will be Nov. 18 against St. Louis Community College.
For more information about the Grizzly Basketball program, visit the team’s website or call the Grizzly Basketball office at 417-255-7993. Complete game statistics can be found at this website.