WEST PLAINS, Mo. – The Missouri State University-West Plains Grizzly Basketball team will take an 18-12 record into postseason play after falling to Moberly (Mo.) Area Community College 87-73 Saturday, Feb. 22, in Joe Paul Evans Arena at the West Plains Civic Center.

The loss to their Region 16 rival gave the Grizzlies a final 3-5 record in regular season region play and left them in third in the region standings.  As a result, they are seeded third in the Region 16 postseason tournament Friday and Saturday, Feb. 28 and March 1, at Jefferson College in Hillsboro, Mo.  They will meet the Greyhounds, seeded second in the tournament with a 22-8 overall record and 6-2 region record, again at 8 p.m. Friday in a semifinal game.

First seeded State Fair Community College (22-6 overall, 8-0 region) of Sedalia, Mo., will play the winner of Tuesday’s tournament play-in game between fourth seeded Mineral Area College (16-13 overall, 2-6 region) of Park Hills, Mo., and fifth seeded Three Rivers College (17-12 overall, 1-7 region) of Poplar Bluff, Mo., in Friday’s the other semifinal at 6 p.m.  Mineral Area and Three Rivers will face off at 7 p.m. Tuesday at Bob Sechrest Fieldhouse in Park Hills.

Grizzly Basketball Head Coach Yancey Walker said several things played a role in the Grizzlies’ loss Saturday to the Greyhounds.  “Statistically, we can point to some glaring things, specifically our turnovers and their second chance points,” he said, pointing out the Grizzlies had 17 turnovers and only 3 second chance points compared to Moberly’s 14.

“We didn’t execute with enough aggression on the offensive end,” he added.  “We had some times that we were aggressive, but we didn’t attack them as much as we needed to.  Defensively, we went under a few ball screens, and that is something we just can’t do.  Moberly has too many good shooters to do that.  We were better defensively in this game, but we can’t let their bench players score above their averages.  That has happened in both of our games this season.”

For the game, the Grizzlies hit 24 of 55 attempts from the field for 43.6 percent, five of 15 shots from 3-point range for 33.3 percent and 20 of 28 shots from the charity stripe for 71.4 percent.  They also recorded 30 rebounds, 15 assists, four steals and four blocks.

Sophomore guard Devaugntah Williams led the team in scoring with 19 points.  He also had three rebounds and two assists.  Freshman forward Justin Jamison followed with 13 points, nine rebounds and two blocks, and sophomore guard Arroyo Edwards recorded 12 points, five rebounds and two assists.  Freshman guard Jameel Moore had 9 points and four assists.

The Greyhounds hit 28 of 63 shots from the field for 44.4 percent, six of 17 attempts from 3-point range for 35.3 percent and 25 of 33 shots from the free throw line for 75.8 percent.  They also had 34 rebounds, 12 assists, four steals, three blocks and five turnovers.

Evan Singletary led the team in scoring with 25 points.  He was followed by Jaysean Paige with 16 points and Malcolm Hamilton and Jermaine Morgan each with 11 points.

Walker is hoping the results of Friday’s game will be different.  “We have to believe and have a better effort on Friday,” he stressed.

For more information about the Grizzly Basketball team, including complete statistics from the games, visit wp.missouristate.edu/grizzly/bb/.