SENATOBIA, Miss. – The Missouri State University-West Plains Grizzly Basketball team once again found themselves on the short end of a one-possession game Thursday night in Senatobia, Mississippi, falling to the Northwest Mississippi Community College Rangers 85-79.
With about 30 seconds remaining in the game, freshman guard Darnell Butler canned a 3-pointer to pull the Grizzlies within 2 points of the Rangers, 81-79, but with time running out, the Grizzlies were forced to send the Rangers to the free throw line twice where they scored the last 4 points of the game.
“At times I feel like I’m coaching volleyball,” Grizzly Basketball Head Coach Chris Popp said. “Volleyball is one of the most momentum-driven sports I’ve seen. There are times when we’ve been on the bottom side of that momentum, and it pours on us for a while.”
The Grizzlies had their chances, especially in the second half. Down 48-35 early in the second, the Grizzlies battled back to take a 71-67 lead with 5:38 remaining, but missed shots and fouls allowed the Rangers to get back in the game. “Once again, we had a stretch where we didn’t play like ourselves. The great and yet frustrating part of this is that when we play like we’re supposed to, we are very good. When we get to whee we play that way consistently, the wins will come,” Popp said.
The Grizzlies were more efficient from the field, hitting 41.7 percent of their shots, compared to the Rangers’ 35.1 percent, but the Rangers made the most of their opportunities from the charity stripe, hitting 72.4 percent of their attempts, compared to the Grizzlies’ 68.4 percent. They also had 10 more opportunities from the free throw line than the Grizzlies. The Grizzlies hit 13 of 19 free throws, while the Rangers were 21 of 29.
There were still some bright moments for the Grizzlies. Redshirt freshman guard Ricky Torres led the team in scoring with 21 points, followed by Butler with 16 and freshman guard Marcus Blackwell with 15.
“Ricky played really well in the second half. He had one assist and four turnovers in the first half and turned that around to six assists and no turnovers in the second. He’s a competitor and really tried to give us a lift,” Popp said. “Marcus played his best game of the year. He played like we expected him to play, and Darnell hit his average 16 points for the game. D’Shawnn Coleman played one of his better games, too.” The freshman forward had 9 points and six rebounds.
The Grizzlies will travel to Harrisburg, Illinois, Tuesday, Dec. 6, for a rematch with Southeastern Illinois College before hosting the Grizzly Christmas Classic tournament Dec. 9 and 10 in Joe Paul Evans Arena at the West Plains Civic Center. Joining the Grizzlies in the two-day event will be Arkansas Baptist College of Little Rock, College of Faith Prep from West Memphis, Arkansas, and Iowa Western Community College (IWCC) from Council Bluffs.
On Dec. 9, Arkansas Baptist will face IWCC at 5 p.m., and the Grizzlies will battle College of Faith at 7. On Dec. 10, the Grizzlies and IWCC will face off at 1 p.m., followed by Arkansas Baptist and College of Faith at 3 p.m.
For more information about the Grizzly Basketball program, visit the team’s website or call 417-255-7991. Complete box scores of the games can be found online, as well.