WEST PLAINS, Mo. – The Missouri State University-West Plains Grizzly Basketball team will enter postseason play with a 22-8 overall record after falling to No. 8 Moberly Area Community College 100-82 Saturday, Feb. 24, at the West Plains Civic Center.

The loss leaves the Grizzlies seeded fourth in the NJCAA Region 16 Championship Tournament this week. They will host No. 5 seed Three Rivers College (12-17) at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 27, at Joe Paul Evans Arena in the civic center for the tournament play-in game.

The winner will face No. 1 seed Moberly (26-4) at 6 p.m. Thursday, March 1, at Lincoln University in Jefferson City in semifinal action. The championship game is set for 3 p.m. Saturday, March 3, at Lincoln University.

SATURDAY VS. MOBERLY

Despite the final score, Saturday’s game between the Grizzlies and Greyhounds was a close contest into the second half. The teams battled back and forth through the first period until the Greyhounds were finally able to go into the break with a 48-47 edge.

The Grizzlies came out in the second half ready to get back on top, and they did early by 3 points. But fouls started adding up for the home team, forcing their two leading scorers, sophomore point guard Ricky Torres and redshirt freshman guard Radshad Davis, to spend most of their time on the bench in the second period.

“We needed our guys on the floor, but we had some foul issues that kept that from happening,” Grizzly Basketball Head Coach Chris Popp said. “Ricky had 16 points at the half and was playing well, but he sat most of the second half. The same with Radshad. With them on the bench, we needed others to step up. That was the stretch where Moberly built its lead.”

Leading scorers for the Grizzlies in the contest were freshman guard Eric Lovett with 18 points, Torres 17, freshman forward Burone Edwards 16 and Davis 13.

“Offensively, we were okay,” he added. “We had some bad possessions, but we were okay. But it changed the game not having those guys on the court.”

The Grizzlies also struggled keeping the Greyhounds from getting second chance points. “There were a lot of possessions defensively where we got the stops we needed, but they got the offensive rebounds and scored from that,” Popp said. “That is something that Moberly does consistently. They are good on the offensive glass. They really hurt us there.

“Moberly is really good. They’re No. 8 in the country for a reason,” Popp continued. “If we win Tuesday, we’ll meet them again Thursday on a neutral court, and if we play like we did Saturday, but stay out of foul trouble, I like our chances.”

First, they have to get past the Raiders Tuesday, and that won’t be easy. “Our rival at home in a postseason match-up? You can’t ask for more than that,” Popp said. “They will come in here with nothing to lose and give us everything they’ve got. I expect it to be a great game with two teams playing very hard.”

SOPHOMORE NIGHT

Saturday’s game gave the coaches and fans a chance to recognize five Grizzlies who will be leaving the program after the season concludes: Team captains Torres and Davis, forwards Yannis Mendy and Leonidas Kontopoulos, and guard Terrell Whitaker.

Torres will leave the Grizzlies as the all-time career assists leader (395 and counting) and tied the record for most assists in a single game (16 vs. Moberly on Feb. 7). He also is the leading scorer for the team this season, averaging 17.5 points per game. He’s currently second the country in assists and third in assists per game.

Davis, the first player to sign with the Grizzlies under Popp, is the team’s leading scorer in region play (21 points per game) and second leading rebounder (8 per game), and he has recorded six double-doubles this season. He turned in his most impressive performance in this year’s homecoming game Jan. 20 against Three Rivers when he scored 33 points, grabbed 10 rebounds and dished out five assists.

Mendy has turned in nine double-double performances, is averaging 12.6 points per game, and is leading all Region 16 players in rebounds, averaging 8.9 per game. His highest tally in rebounds came Feb. 10 at Three Rivers with 15.

The story of Whitaker, Torres’ brother, is inspiring. He came to the team as a walk-on, then earned a scholarship and significant playing time this season with his toughness and determination to get better and compete every day.

A transfer from Southern Methodist University, Kontopoulos became an invaluable part of the Grizzlies this season with his ability to play multiple positions.

“This is a special group that has done a lot for this program, especially these returners who trusted and joined me as a first-time head coach two years ago,” Popp said. “I can’t say enough how much I appreciate their willingness to buy in, be coachable, help me establish how we approach our daily work, how we want to play, connect with the community, and work to help us build a selfless culture on and off the court. Through all the struggles and the triumphs of the last two years, I couldn’t have chosen better young men to begin this with!”

For complete statistics of the Grizzlies’ games this season, visit http://stats.njcaa.org/sports/mbkb/2017-18/div1/teams/missouristateuniversitywestplains.

For more information about the Grizzly Basketball program, visit the team’s website or call 417-255-7991.

Stay up to date with Grizzly Athletics and Grizzly Booster Club news by signing up for text alerts at http://remind.com/join/wpgrizz or text “@WPGrizz to 81010.