Date: December 15, 2008
Contact: Yancey Walker, Head Coach
Grizzly Basketball Office
417-255-7993

    WEST PLAINS, Mo. – The Missouri State University-West Plains Grizzly basketball team will go into the holiday break on a positive note after capturing victories in the team’s final two games of the Southern Missouri Orthopaedics and Sports Medicine Clinic Grizzly Holiday Classic this past weekend at the West Plains Civic Center.
    The Grizzlies (10-6) trounced Shorter College of Little Rock, Ark., 90-76, Friday night, Dec. 12, then held off a late charge by the Fort Scott (Kan.) Community College Greyhounds 80-76 Saturday night, Dec. 13.  Missouri State-West Plains opened the three-day event Thursday, Dec. 11, with a 79-70 loss to Redlands Community College of El Reno, Okla.
    “It was a great tournament,” Grizzly Head Coach Yancey Walker said.  “Whenever you have three teams finish a tournament 2-1, you know you’ve had a balanced event.  I know everyone feels good with their wins, but they also probably felt they let one get away with their losses.  I know we did.”
    Fort Scott defeated Shorter 67-56 on Thursday and Redlands 84-79 on Friday before losing to the Grizzlies Saturday.  In addition to the Grizzlies, Redlands defeated Shorter during the tournament; no score for that game was available, however.
    The Grizzlies’ biggest win of the season came Saturday night against Fort Scott.  After leading 36-26 at halftime, they held off a determined Greyhound squad that outscored them 50-44 in the second half to garner the victory.
    “That was a huge win for our team,” Walker said.  “It will be a bigger win later on down the road.  Fort Scott plays hard, they have guys who can score, and they have a bunch of good athletes.  I think they will surprise some people as the season progresses.”
    Although the Grizzlies gave up 6 quick points to the Greyhounds to start the second half, Walker said, “I never thought we weren’t in control of the game.  It was just another case of us shooting ourselves in the foot with mistakes.  We continued to challenge them to the end.  I never felt like we would have let it slip away.”
    Sophomore guard Devon Peltier, who led the Grizzlies in scoring all three nights, received all-tournament honors, as did Antoine Watson of Redlands, Kurklin Bohanon of Fort Scott and Stephen Hurst of Shorter.  Tournament MVP honors went to Redland’s Marvin Roberts.
    “VI did a good job all weekend,” Walker said.  Peltier scored 28 points against Redlands, 24 against Shorter and 22 against Fort Scott.
    “Chris Williams also had two great games for us,” the coach added, pointing to his 14 point, 10 rebound double-double performance against Fort Scott and his 21 points against Shorter.  “We’re more complete when he’s involved.”
    “I also thought Xavier Jones played well Saturday night,” the coach continued.  “He came up big for us.  He was six of eight from the field, two of two from the three point line and three of four from the free throw line, scoring 17 points in 22 minutes of play.  I’m very happy with his progress.”
    Walker also praised freshman Ivan Gomobovic who had 10 points and seven rebounds against Shorter and 7 points and nine rebounds against Fort Scott.
    The tournament ends the Grizzlies’ fall season, and Walker couldn’t be more pleased with his team as they enter the holiday break with back-to-back wins.  “It’s monumental.  It gives everyone a good feeling and gets us to double digits in the win column at the break,” he said.
    The Grizzlies will resume play Jan. 9 and 10, 2009, when they host the Physical Therapy Specialists Clinic/West Plains Ambulatory Surgery Center Grizzly Basketball Classic at the civic center arena.  In addition to the Grizzlies, participating teams include Iowa Western Community College of Council Bluffs, Arkansas Baptist College of Little Rock and Technical Career Institutes of New York.  Game times are 5 and 7 p.m. each day with the Grizzlies competing in the 7 p.m. contests.
    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.