Celebrate homecoming at Grizzly Basketball regular season finale Sat. 

The Missouri State University-West Plains (MSU-WP) Grizzly Basketball team will close out its regular season Saturday, Feb. 18, in the university's annual homecoming game.

This year's opponent will be the Mineral Area College (MAC) Cardinals from Park Hills. Tipoff is 7 p.m. at the West Plains Civic Center arena. Everyone is invited to come out and enjoy the game and homecoming festivities, including the crowning of the 2023 Grizzly Homecoming King and Queen at halftime.

These two teams clashed this past Sunday, Feb. 12, in Park Hills, and after the dust had settled, the Grizzlies walked away with a 63-58 victory over the Cardinals, who were ranked 25th in the nation at the time.

The Grizzlies held an early 14-point lead when sophomore forward Gagi Gvalia connected on a 3-point basket upping the score to 24-10. The Greyhounds, however, raced back to cut the advantage to 34-28 by halftime.

MSU-WP started the second half with the same intensity they had at the beginning of the contest, going on a 14-3 run that pushed the score to 48-31 with 14:47 remaining. Cold shooting and costly turnovers allowed MAC to cut the lead to single digits, 56-48.

The game narrowed to a one-possession lead before Gvalia found sophomore guard Aiden Gair cutting to the basket for an easy layup that upped the score to 62-58 with 21 second left in the contest. Sophomore point guard Sterling White III later added a free throw to seal the victory.

"I'm really proud of the progress this team has made," Grizzly Basketball Head Coach Jared Phay said. "Beating two top 25 ranked teams in a week is quite an accomplishment."

The Grizzlies picked up an impressive 76-75 win over Indian Hills Community College from Ottumwa, Iowa, on Feb. 6 at the civic center. The Warriors were ranked third in the nation at the time.

White led the Grizzlies on the scoreboard with 17 points, followed by Gair with 14. White also recorded six assists and seven rebounds.

The Grizzlies are going into Saturday's game after falling Region 16 rival State Fair Community College 80-70 in Sedalia Wednesday night. More details about that contest will be provided at a later date.

For more information about the Grizzly Basketball team, visit the team's website at MSUWPGrizzlies.com.