WEST PLAINS, Mo. – The Missouri State University-West Plains Grizzly Basketball team completed the 2010-2011 regular season in history-making style Saturday, Feb. 26, at the West Plains Civic Center arena.
With an 84-71 victory over Moberly Area Community College of Moberly, Mo., the Grizzlies posted their best ever season record at 28-2 and swept the Region 16 competition for the first time in team history, going 8-0. That’s on top of unanimously being named the No. 1 team in the nation last week by the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) in its final Division I poll of the season!
“Obviously, our team made some more history Saturday night and deservedly so,” head coach Yancey Walker said. “Our team has staved off everyone’s best effort all season, but especially in the month of February. Twenty-eight wins overall and undefeated in the region is something special. Now, these young men will be the standard by which other Grizzly teams are measured. But the best thing about this group of young men is that they understand we still have work to do.”
The Grizzlies showed why they are the No. 1 team in the nation during the first half against the Greyhounds, scoring the first 5 points of the game and maintaining an aggressive, solid effort offensively and defensively throughout the period. At halftime, the Grizzlies were up 40-20.
“We were as good as we’ve been defensively in the first half,” Walker said. “We held them to 30 percent (seven of 23) from the field and 20 percent (two of 10) from the three. In addition, we only allowed one offensive rebound in the first half and four for the entire game.”
Offensively, the Grizzlies showed good efficiency around the basket, with sophomores Travis Wilkins and Teddy Simniok combining for eight of 10 during the half. “When we were on the attack offensively and we were making a point to get the ball inside, we were scoring at a much higher rate,” Walker explained.
Those efforts fell short in the second half. After going up by as much as 23 points early in the period, the Grizzlies found themselves in a dog fight toward the end of the game when the Greyhounds pulled within 5 points. But key back-to-back buckets by sophomores Chris Mason and Quinton Pippen helped the Grizzlies rebuild their lead to 11, and they never looked back until the game-ending buzzer sounded.
“At halftime, we talked about still being aggressive and that there had been several teams at all levels of college basketball that had squandered leads like this and that the game was far from over,” Walker recalled. “Teams almost always make a run, and Moberly was no different. They are a team with good players and a proud tradition. We also knew that it was unlikely that they were going to continue to shoot poorly in the second half.”
Walker said the Greyhounds played with “reckless abandon” in the second half. “They weren’t making passes to move our defense, they were just coming down and putting up shots. We had a little bit of foul trouble in the first half, so we didn’t play quite as aggressive as we needed to in the second. We bent, but we didn’t break, and we make the plays down the stretch we needed to in order to win.”
The Grizzlies turned in a very balanced scoring attack with Wilkins and Pippen leading the way with 17 points each. Wilkins finished the night hitting six of his nine field goal attempts, while Pippen canned six of 11 shots from the field and three of seven attempts from 3-point range.
Sophomore Demetrice Jacobs scored 16 points, hitting five of seven from the field, and Simniok had a perfect night from the field, scoring 15 points off five shots, including one 3 pointer. Mason had 12 points for the night, hitting three of six from the field, including two of five 3 pointers.
Overall, the Grizzlies shot 59 percent from the field (27 of 46 attempts), 35 percent from 3-point range (seven of 20) and 64 percent from the free throw line (23 of 36). They also had seven assists and 14 turnovers.
Moberly was led in scoring by Ronnie Boggs with 25 points and Daylen Robinson with 14. Overall, the Greyhounds hit 29 of 60 shots from the field for 48 percent, seven of 21 3-point attempts for 33 percent and six of 11 free throws for 55 percent. They also recorded two assists and 14 turnovers.
The night was bittersweet, however, for the coaches and the eight sophomores on this year’s team who played their last home game as a Grizzly. All were recognized following the game. The sophomores include:
• Demetrice Jacobs, a transfer from Northwest College in Powell, Wyo., who averaged 14 points, five rebounds and two steals per game this season while shooting 55 percent overall and 48 percent from 3-point range. He is currently leading Region 16 in 3-point shooting percentage.
• Travis Wilkins, a transfer from the University of South Carolina-Salkehatchie, who averaged 12 points, five rebounds and two blocks per game. This season, he led Region 16 in both blocks and field goal percentage (68 percent).
• Lonnie Hayes, a transfer from Columbus State Community College in Ohio, who averaged 18 points, four assists, three rebounds and two steals per game. He currently leads Region 16 in scoring and in steals and is second in the region in assists.
• Chris Mason, a two-year player from Melrose High School in Memphis, Tenn., who has averaged 9 points in his two years here, shot 41 percent from 3-point range, and is currently third in the region in 3-point shooting percentage.
• Westley Hinton, a two-year player from Lawrenceville, Ga., who has averaged 6 points, four rebounds and shot 37 percent from 3-point range as a Grizzly.
• Twann Oakley, a two-year player from Melrose High School who has averaged 8 points and shot 42 percent overall and 33 percent from 3-point range during his career as a Grizzly. He also is one of three current Grizzlies to have been named Academic All-Region.
• Teddy Simniok, who, due to injury, played 1 1/3 years for the Grizzlies, averaging 7 points and shooting 58 percent overall and 43 percent from 3-point range. He is currently second in the region this season behind Wilkins in field goal percentage (64 percent). In addition, he’s one of three current Grizzlies to have been named Academic All-Region.
• Quinton Pippen, a two-year player from Hamburg, Ark., who has averaged 13 points and five rebounds a game during his career. He’s done so by shooting 43 percent from the field and 40 percent from 3-point range. He is currently on the Region 16 leader board in scoring, free throw percentage, field goal percentage and 3-point field goal percentage.
Next up for the Grizzlies is the Region 16 Postseason Tournament Friday and Saturday, March 4 and 5, on the Jefferson College campus in Hillsboro, Mo. They will face the winner of Tuesday’s quarterfinal game between fourth seeded Three Rivers Community College, Poplar Bluff, Mo., and fifth seeded Mineral Area College, Park Hills, Mo., at 6 p.m. Friday. Tuesday’s game will be played at 7 p.m. in Poplar Bluff.
No. 2 seed State Fair Community College, Sedalia, Mo., will meet No. 3 seed Moberly at 8 p.m. Friday. The region championship game between the winners of the two semifinal games will be at 7 p.m. Saturday.
University officials have chartered a fan bus for those interested in attending the region championship game, should the Grizzlies reach the championship. The cost of riding the bus is $30 per seat, not including game tickets which are $5 each and available at the door. The bus will leave at 1 p.m. Saturday from the south parking lot of the Lybyer Technology Center. A dinner stop is planned along the way, and the bus will return shortly after the conclusion of the championship game. Those interested in riding should call Dr. Herb Lunday, dean of student services, at 417-255-7225, 417-256-2971 or 417-274-8119, or they can reserve a seat by e-mailing Dr. Lunday at HerbLunday@MissouriState.edu.
For more information about the Grizzly Basketball program, visit the team’s website at http://www.wp.missouristate.edu/grizzly/bb.htm or call the Grizzly Basketball office at 417-255-7993.