WEST PLAINS, Mo. – The Missouri State University West Plains Grizzly Basketball team is gearing up to host the Hirsch Feed & Farm Supply, Inc., Grizzly New Year’s Classic Friday and Saturday, Jan. 6 and 7, in Joe Paul Evans Arena at the West Plains Civic Center.
Joining the Grizzlies on the court for the two-day event will be Motlow State Community College, Lynchburg, Tennessee; North Arkansas College, Harrison; and Sunrise Christian Academy, Wichita, Kansas. North Arkansas and Motlow will face off at 5 p.m. Friday, followed by the Grizzlies and Sunrise Christian Academy at 7 p.m. On Saturday, North Arkansas will play Sunrise Christian Academy at 3 p.m., followed by the Grizzlies and Motlow State at 5 p.m.
Grizzly Basketball Head Coach Chris Popp expects two more challenging games for his team this weekend. “Sunrise Christian Academy is one of the more talented teams we’ve seen all year. They’re one of the top prep schools in the Midwest. And year in and year out, Motlow State has been a very good team, and they’re solid again this year. We’re going to have to play well this weekend to have a chance to win both games,” he said.
The test will be even harder with the limited number of Grizzlies available. Popp said he will only be able to field, at most, eight players for the contests due to injuries. Hopefully, they will be able to replicate the success they had Tuesday, Jan. 3, when they defeated Southwest Tennessee Community College from Memphis 83-65 at the civic center with just seven players taking the court.
“Going into it, I wasn’t sure what to expect. We have yet to be able to compete in a five-on-five situation in practice since Christmas. That makes it difficult to prepare and get a gauge on things, but the guys really came to play. We had contributions from every player at every position,” the coach said. “A lot of guys stepped up. With only one post player against a long and athletic Southwest Tennessee team, we were outmatched in terms of size, but our guys fought defensively and managed to win the battle on the glass.”
The Grizzlies jumped out early and led the Saluqis 40-36 at halftime, and the battle continued to be nip and tuck until late in the second half when the Grizzlies went on a scoring splurge to out-pace Southwest Tennessee 43-29 total for the period.
Redshirt freshman guard Lane Duncan and sophomore guard Dwayne Orija both started for the first time this season, and both made their presence known. “Lane took advantage of his opportunity. He came out firing. He had 17 points, and he scored most of those early on,” Popp said. “Dwayne was very effective, too.” Orija had 6 points and five rebounds.
In addition to Duncan’s team-leading 17 points, other Grizzlies who scored in double figures were redshirt freshman forward Stefan Lakic and freshman guard Isaiah Brown each with 15 points, freshman guard Marcus Blackwell with 13 and redshirt freshman point guard Ricky Torres with 12.
Torres and Brown led the team in rebounding with eight grabs each, and freshman point guard Quinton Gray led the team in assists with six.
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.