Win Streak Ends in Loss in Missouri

West Plains, MO -- Missouri State-West Plains got revenge for an earlier loss and, in the process, handed Indian Hills its first loss of the season as the Grizzlies parlayed a big second half into an 85-68 win Tuesday night.

The defeat snapped the Warriors' 19-game winning streak to start the season and was payback for a Grizzlies team that, without five players who were suspended for the game, was drubbed by Indian Hills, 93-69, on Dec. 20.

After Rawane Ndiaye scored underneath the basket after taking a nifty feed from Dustin Hogue with around six minutes remaining, the Warriors managed only three points the rest of the night.

Missouri State-West Plains ended the game on a 22-3 run with the majority of those 22 points coming from the free-throw line where the Grizzlies had a decided edge for the game. MS-WP made 25-of-36 foul shots while the Warriors attempted only a dozen and made seven.

Gage Wooten and Kevin Nelson who combined for just one field goal and eight points in the first half, came to life in the second half to lead the Grizzlies' charge. Wooten had 20 second-half points for a game-high 28 and hit all 12 of his free throws. Nelson was scoreless in the opening half, then nailed three 3s on his way to 16 points in the final half.

Indian Hills had two 15-point leads in the first half and settled for an 11-point margin at halftime. But MS-WP had started their comeback already late in the half when they scored the last four points before halftime.

The Grizzlies sprinted out of the lockerroom with the first eight points of the second half. They finally tied the score at 46-all on a basket by Wooten.

There were six more ties after that before Ndiaye's bucket gave IHCC a short-lived lead, its last of the game.

A three by Nelson gave the Grizzlies the lead for good and 14 of their final 17 points came from the foul line. They outscored IHCC 54-26 in the second half.

Indian Hills travels to Marshalltown to begin conference play on Saturday night. That game and the remaining league games take on added significance since there will be only four Region 11 contests as a result of Southeastern's decision to cancel its season.

MISSOURI STATE-WEST PLAINS 85, INDIAN HILLS 68

MISSOURI STATE-WEST PLAINS Gage Wooten 7 12-12 28, Miles Gatewood 4 0-4 9, Kevin Nelson 4 5-8 16, Marin Petric 2 0-1 4, Keaton Jackson 1 0-0 2, Nathane Simniok 2 2-3 6, Kervin Remeau 1 5-8 8, Farbod Farman 6 0-0 12 Team 27 25-36 85

INDIAN HILLS Brandon Spearman 2 1-2 6, Gary Ricks, Jr. 4 2-2 14, DeAndray Buckley 0 0-0 0, Michael Haynes 3 0-0 6, D.J. Bennett 1 1-1 3, Kieran Woods 2 0-1 4, Jameel McKay 5 0-0 10, Roderick Bobbitt 4 0-0 9, Dustin Hogue 3 3-4 9, Ronnie Stevens 0 0-0 0, Trinson White 1 0-2 3, Rawane Ndiaye 2 0-0 4 Team 27 7-12 68

Halftime score: Indian Hills 42, MS-WP 31; Three-point field goals: IHCC 7 (Ricks 4; Spearman, Bobbitt, White 1), MS-WP 6 (Nelson 3; Wooten 2; Remeau 1)