Date: February 17, 2009
Contact: Yancey Walker, Head Coach
Grizzly Basketball Office
417-255-7993

POPLAR BLUFF, Mo. – For one half of their game Saturday night, the Missouri State University-West Plains Grizzlies gave Region 16 arch rival Three Rivers Community College everything it could handle and then some.

But height eventually overcame tenacity as the scrappy Grizzlies were out-gunned by the region-leading Raiders in the second half and lost 83-60 at the Bess Activity Center on the Three Rivers campus in Poplar Bluff.

The Grizzlies fall to 12-14 overall and 1-5 in the region while the Raiders move to 23-4 overall and 7-0 in the region.

“We shot well from the free throw line, making 14 of 15, we just didn’t get enough of them,” Grizzly Head Coach Yancey Walker said.  “We came out and hung in there with them for a little bit, and then we had a couple of shots not fall.  When you have 6 ft., 4 in. guys shooting over 6 ft. players, you have to be perfect, and we just weren’t perfect.”

In the first half, the Grizzlies kept pace with the Raiders, hitting 55 percent of their shots from the field, 28.6 percent of their shots from three-point range and all of their free throws.  By the end of the period, the Grizzlies were down by just three points, 35-32.

The Grizzlies’ shooting in the second half cooled, however.  They connected on only 33 percent of their shots from the field, while the Raiders increased their production from long range, hitting a whopping 77.8 percent of their three-point attempts.

The Raiders also took advantage of their height around the boards, out-rebounding the Grizzlies 33 to 17.

Leading scorer for the Grizzlies was sophomore Chris Williams who had 19 points.  He was followed by freshman Xavier Jones with 14, freshman Ivan Gombovic with 9, sophomores Youri Anissovets and Anthony Allison each with 4, sophomore Devon Peltier and freshman Taylor Jones each with 3, and freshmen Rae-Vonn Banks and Terrell Bruce each with 2.

Raider Adam Carpenter scored 23 points, which was boosted by his seven-for-seven performance behind the three-point arc.  Marquise Carter followed with 19, and Jeremy Marrs had 11.

The Grizzlies will travel to Sedalia, Mo., Wednesday, Feb. 18, for a 7 p.m. rematch with State Fair Community College. 

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