Date: February 4, 2009
Contact: Yancey Walker, Head Coach
Grizzly Basketball Office
417-255-7993

WEST PLAINS, Mo. – The Missouri State University-West Plains Grizzly Basketball team is still looking for its first Region 16 win after falling to Mineral Area College (MAC), Park Hills, Mo., 88-62 Tuesday night, Feb. 3, at the West Plains Civic Center arena.

The Grizzlies are now 11-12 overall this season and 0-3 in Region 16 play.

“Last night we shot ourselves out of it,” Grizzly Basketball Head Coach Yancey Walker said.  “We missed a lot of shots early.  Some of our guys who have been having some great games lately couldn’t get it going.”

The pressure defense used by the MAC Cardinals didn’t help the Grizzlies efforts, either.  Walker noted the Cardinals pressed the Grizzlies throughout the contest, bringing them down defensively.  Overall, the Grizzlies shot 40 percent from the field, hitting only 22 of 55 attempts.  They hit 7 of 18 attempts from three-point range for 38.9 percent and 11 of 18 attempts from the free throw line for 61.1 percent.

The Cardinals were 32 of 50 from the field for 64 percent, 6 of 16 from the three-point line for 37.5 percent, and 18-22 from the charity stripe for 81.8 percent.

The Grizzlies were down 47-36 at halftime and were outscored 41-26 in the final period.

Leading scorer for the Grizzlies was sophomore Anthony Allison with 13 points.  He was followed by freshman Taylor Jones with 11, sophomore Logan Nutt 10, freshman Rae-Vonn Banks 9, sophomores Devon Peltier and Chris Williams and freshman Ivan Gombovic with 4 each, sophomore Youri Anissovets 3, and freshmen Terrell Bruce and Xavier Jones each with 2.

The Cardinals were led by Gerald Fulton with 17 points, followed by Eric McCrary with 13 and Mike Stoval with 12.

The Grizzlies will try again to get a region win at 7 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 7, when they host the Moberly Area Community College Greyhounds of Moberly, Mo., at the civic center arena.

“They press a lot, and I expect us to come out and battle,” Walker said.  “We have to give it everything we have and do whatever it takes to be competitive and win games.  We have to be prepared for them and give it our best effort.

For more information about the Grizzly Basketball team, visit the Grizzly Basketball Web site at http://www.wp.missouristate.edu/grizzly/bb.htm.