Date: December 8, 2008
Contact: Yancey Walker, Head Coach
Grizzly Basketball Office
417-255-7993

    WEST PLAINS, Mo. – The Missouri State University-West Plains Grizzly basketball team upped its record to 8-5 with wins this past weekend over two junior varsity teams from Arkansas.
    The Grizzlies downed Central Baptist College’s JV squad 113-54 Friday evening, Dec. 5, in Conway, Ark., then defeated Ouachita Baptist University’s JV team 102-55 Saturday evening, Dec. 6, in Arkadelphia, Ark.
    Grizzly Head Coach Yancey Walker said the wins were “pretty good for us.  Sometimes, playing JV games, you can come out soft and slow, but our defense was good, and we jumped out pretty good coming out of the gates.  I was very happy with our rebounding, and we shot pretty well both nights.  Those are the things you want to get out of those kinds of games.”
    Leading scorer for the Grizzlies Friday night was sophomore point guard Anthony Allison with 20 points.  He was followed by sophomore Devon Peltier with 17, sophomore Youri Anissovets 16, freshman Taylor Jones 11, freshman Terrell Bruce 10, freshmen Ivan Gombovic and Xavier Jones each with 8, and sophomore Logan Nutt and freshman Devon Atkinson each with 5.
    Rebounding leaders were Gombovic with 12, freshman Rae-Vonn Banks with 11 and Anissovets with nine.  Nutt and Taylor Jones led the team in assists with six each.
    On Saturday, Xavier Jones led the Grizzlies’ scoring attack with 18 points.  He was followed by Peltier with 15, Anissovets 14, Banks 12, Allison 10, Gombovic and Taylor Jones each with 9, Nutt 8, Bruce 5 and Atkinson 2.
    Gombovic and Banks led the Grizzlies on the boards with seven rebounds each.  Anissovets grabbed six.  Nutt dished out a team-leading five assists.
    Missouri State-West Plains will close out the fall portion of their season this weekend by hosting the Grizzly Holiday Classic Thursday through Saturday, Dec. 11-13, at the West Plains Civic Center.  In addition to the Grizzlies, featured teams include Shorter College of Little Rock, Ark., Redlands Community College of El Reno, Okla., and Fort Scott Community College of Fort Scott, Kan.
    The tournament schedule has Shorter facing Fort Scott at 5 p.m. Thursday followed by the Grizzlies against Redlands at 7 p.m.  Friday, Redlands and Fort Scott will meet in the 5 p.m. game, while the Grizzlies and Shorter will play at 7 p.m.  Saturday’s lineup has Shorter and Redlands playing at 5 p.m. and the Grizzlies and Fort Scott at 7 p.m.
    For more information about the Grizzly Basketball team or for complete game statistics, visit the Grizzly Basketball Web site at http://www.wp.missouristate.edu/grizzly/bb.htm.