Grizzlies enter winter break on a hopeful note

The first half of the season hasn't been an easy one for the Missouri State University-West Plains Grizzly Basketball team, but they've made significant strides in the past six weeks against some of the nation's top teams and are entering the winter break on a hopeful note.

"We've been playing a lot better. I'm encouraged with where we are," Grizzly Basketball Head Coach Chris Popp said.

"After starting with a very tough schedule, we finished 4-2 in our last six games going into the break. The goal is to maintain our growth in the second half of the season," he added.

Iowa tournament

The Grizzlies (7-9) finished the fall portion of their season this past weekend by going 1-1 at the Hy-Vee Classic hosted by No. 8 Indian Hills Community College in Ottumwa, Iowa.

On Friday, the Grizzlies fell to the hosting Warriors 119-81, but they roared back Saturday to defeat the Lake Region State College Royals from Devils Lake, North Dakota, 100-83.

Some of the same issues that have been plaguing the Grizzlies all season reared their ugly heads again against the Warriors. Key players spent more of their time on the bench in foul trouble than on the court, and an inability to move the ball inside left the Grizzlies taking quick shots from the perimeter.

Unfortunately, the Grizzlies' shooting efforts that evening were off the mark. In the first half, they only connected on 31 percent of their shots from the field, 25 percent of their shots from 3-point range and 55.6 percent of their shots from the free throw line.

"It was one of those nights. Our percentages were terrible. The ball was not going in on Friday," Popp said. "You would like to think you can step up defensively and on the boards and make up for it, but against the No. 8 team in the country on the road, you have to have some shots fall."

The result was a 62-34 deficit at halftime.

"I felt good going into the game with our preparation, but the environment and a few early possessions that ended up in big plays for them left us down 10-2 early and reeling," Popp said. "Once we got past that, we were there with them, at least when we had our core group on the floor."

That didn't happen until the second half when four of the Grizzlies' five starters returned to the floor. Sophomore forward Alex Peterson, redshirt sophomore forward Quentin Jones, and sophomore guards Taevon Horton and D'Andre Vilmar were each forced to the bench in the first half with multiple fouls.

By the second half, though, the damage had already been done, and the Grizzlies could only try to keep pace. Their shooting percentages did improve, but not enough to make a dent in the Warrior's lead.

Bright spots

The evening did have a couple bright spots.

"Alex Rodrigues really stepped up with Q and Alex on the bench," Popp said. "He's come a long way this semester. It's been an adjustment period for him, but I'm looking for good things from him as he continues here."

Rodrigues, a freshman forward, was one of two Grizzlies scoring in double figures for the evening. He netted 18 points, just 3 points behind the Grizzlies' leading scorer, sophomore guard Sardaar Calhoun.

The Grizzlies also benefitted from the play of freshman point guard Zavien Smith-Morales. Although his statistics for the evening (7 points, two rebounds, three assists) weren't impressive, his ability to "feel" the game kept the Grizzlies in the hunt.

Saturday against the Royals, Jones led the Grizzlies' charge with 23 points and six rebounds. Peterson recorded another double-double with 22 points and 10 rebounds, and Horton contributed 20 points of his own to the tally.

Smith-Morales added some more numbers to his statistics Saturday against the Royals. He was just two rebounds away from recording a triple-double, scoring 16 points, dishing out 10 assists and grabbing eight rebounds in the contest.

"Zavien nearly had a triple double on Saturday. He has gotten consistently better and made it apparent that he needs to be on the floor a lot for us," Popp said.

"He and Alex Rodrigues are the two players who have improved leaps and bounds since the start of the season," the coach added. "They are a big factor as to why we're playing better right now."

As for the game itself, Popp said, "we were decent in the first half, then we came out and did what we needed to do in the second. We maintained the lead and stayed consistent with our press. I was happy with the way our guys played in this game. It was a great way to end the decade."

New Year's Classic

When the Grizzlies return from winter break, they will host the annual Hirsch Feed & Farm Supply New Year's Classic Jan. 3-4 in Joe Paul Evans Arena at the West Plains Civic Center. They will face Southwest Tennessee Community College at 7 p.m. Friday and the Warriors at 7 p.m. Saturday for a rematch.

The tournament also will feature Arkansas Baptist College from Little Rock. The Buffaloes will face the Warriors at 2:30 p.m. Friday and Southwest Tennessee at 2:30 p.m. Saturday.

In between the two tournament games each day, two area high schools will play.

The West Plains High School Zizzer boys team will face Marshfield at 5 p.m. Friday, and the No. 1 state ranked Dora High School Falcons will play Billings at 5 p.m. Saturday.

"It's going to be a great weekend of basketball, a full weekend with a lot of high level games," Popp said.

The tournament will begin a stretch of much needed home games for the Grizzlies. "We will play five of our first six games after the break at home," Popp said. "Hopefully, that will give us momentum as we head into the region games."

For more information about the Grizzly Basketball program, visit www.msuwpgrizzlies.com or call 417-255-7991.