ST. JOSEPH, Mo. – Missouri Western Head Men’s Basketball Coach Brett Weiberg has announced the signing of Jason Jones to the 2016-17 squad.

Jones plays at Rock Island High School in Rock Island, Illinois where he has earned three letters. He has also earned All-Conference and All-Metro accolades during his high school career. In 2014-15, Jones averaged 9.7 points, 3.1 assist, and 2.9 rebounds per game.

Jones is the son of James and Theresa and plans to major in Physical Therapy at Missouri Western.

— MWSU Athletics —

ST. JOSEPH – A man who was a trailblazer for the Missouri Western football program, Coach Harold Cagle, passed away last Friday due to a lengthy illness.

Cagle, a mentor to many, started the football program in 1969 and coached the team during the first four seasons from 1970-1973. Under his direction, the program improved each year. On Oct. 10, 1970, Cagle led Missouri Western to its first ever win, a 28-35 victory versus Peru State. He was inducted into the Griffon Athletics Hall of Fame as part of the 1990 class. Coach Cagle was recognized as part of the Centennial Celebration at halftime of the Homecoming football game this past October.

Services for Cagle are set for this Wednesday, December 2nd at 10 AM at the First Baptist Church in Haskell, Oklahoma.

— MWSU Athletics —

SAN ANTONIO, Texas – The Missouri western men’s basketball team lost a late lead and dropped to 2-4 on the season with a 60-56 loss at St. Mary’s in the St. Mary’s Thanksgiving Classic Saturday in San Antonio.

The Griffons led by six with 4:03 to go and four with 2:35 left in the game. A 3-pointer by St. Mary’s with 2:20 left pulled the Rattlers within one then another three with 41 seconds remaining gave the host school a lead it didn’t relinquish. Kevin Thomas had a chance to tie the game at 57 with 16 seconds left but missed one of two free throws. St. Mary’s ended the game with three made free throws to stretch its lead to 60-56.

Thomas and Aaron Emmanuel both finished with double-doubles for Missouri Western. Emmanuel led Missouri Western with a career-high 18 points and 11 rebounds. Thomas finished with 12 points and 10 boards. The Griffons shot 37.5 percent from the field on the night and just 25 percent from 3-point range.

The game was the last in the non-conference portion of Missouri Western’s schedule. The team will open MIAA play on Dec. 2 at Central Missouri.

— MWSU Athletics —

ST. JOSEPH – For the first time since the 2006-07 season, the Missouri Western women’s basketball team is 5-0 as they defeated Graceland 99-35 Saturday inside the MWSU Fieldhouse.

The 22nd-ranked Griffons came one point short of scoring 100 or more in consecutive games for the first time since the 1993-94 season.

Missouri Western had five players score in double figures, including a game-high 27 from LaQuinta Jefferson. She added five rebounds, five assists and two steals on 12-14 shooting from the field. Sarafina Handy finished with 16 points. Mhykeah Baez matched a career-high, scoring 15 points and adding eight rebounds. Miliakere Koyamainavure scored 14 and Sefulu Faavae finished with 10 points. For the second night in a row, all 10 Griffons scored and eight shot 50 percent or better from the field.

As a team, Missouri Western was 61 percent from the field, including 65 percent shooting in the first half. Graceland was limited to 25 percent shooting from the field for the game and 21 percent from behind the arc. Missouri Western totaled 10 fouls on the night, sending Graceland to the line just three times, all in the first half. The Griffons finished with a 47-26 advantage on the glass and forced 31 Graceland turnovers, while finishing with 29 assists themselves. Missouri Western outscored Graceland in the paint, 72-14 and got 34 points off the bench.

Missouri Western begins conference play next week with a trip to Central Missouri on Wednesday.

— MWSU Athletics —

SAN ANTONIO, Texas – A cold second half for the Missouri Western Men’s Basketball team dashed any chances of upsetting No. 13 Angelo State in a 96-84 loss at the St. Mary’s Thanksgiving Classic. The Griffons had three players match or set new career high point totals in the loss.

The Griffons shot 36 percent from the field and 23 percent from behind the arc and were outscored by 10 points in the second half of the loss. That came after 61 percent field goal shooting and 46 percent three-point shooting by the team in the first half. Missouri Western led by as many as 10 in the hot-shooting first frame but struggled to find the same stroke after going to halftime down 49-47.

In a game that featured 29 combined personal fouls, 30 for Angelo State and 29 for Missouri Western, the Griffons ended with four players with at least four personal fouls. Currie Byrd fouled out of the contest after scoring a career-high 17 points and pulling down six rebounds. Byrd was one of three Griffons who either matched or set a new career mark for points in a game. Aaron Emmanuel’s 16 points were a new career-high for the junior guard and Wes Mitter’s 15 matched a career best 15 points. The Griffons managed just nine offensive rebounds while allowing 21. On the defensive glass, the Griffons had just five less than Angelo State. The offensive rebounding advantage for Angelo State led to 20 second chance points, compared to nine for Missouri Western. The Griffons did force 20 Angelo State turnovers, scoring 14 points off the giveaways and outscored Angelo State in the paint 36-32 and off the bench, 41-31.

The loss dropped Missouri Western to 2-3 on the season. The Griffons wrap up their non-conference schedule Saturday when they play host-school, St. Mary’s, at 3 p.m.

— MWSU Sports Information —

ST. JOSEPH – The 22nd-ranked Missouri Western Women’s basketball team stayed perfect on the season and continued its high-scoring attack with a 113-49 win over Evangel in the Holiday Inn Express Classic Friday night inside the MWSU Fieldhouse. It was the most points the women’s team has scored since dropping 115 in a win over Southwestern in 2002.

The Griffons dominated, shooting 63 percent from the field, forty percent from behind the arc and 68 percent from the free throw line in the win. Missouri Western outrebounded Evangel 41-26 and forced 31 turnovers, collecting 18 steals in the game. Missouri Western finished the game with 22 assists on 44 made field goals and 18 steals to 13 turnovers. The Griffons scored 43 points off turnovers and allowed just seven to Evangel. Missouri Western also outscored Evangel 64-16 in the paint and 22-6 on second chance points.

LaQuinta Jefferson returned to 2014-15 form with a game-high 30 points in 27 minutes. She shot 76 percent from the field and added five rebounds. Miliakere Koyamainavure added 19 points and seven rebounds on 60 percent field goal shooting. Sarafina Handy was also 60 percent from the field and scored 17. Melia Richardson was the only Griffon to score less than four with three points, but the freshman guard added seven assists and five steals, both team highs.

The win improved Missouri Western to 4-0 on the season. The Griffons face Graceland, Saturday at 5 p.m. Graceland lost Friday night to William Jewell, 89-59.

— MWSU Sports Information —

ST. JOSEPH – The Missouri Western Women’s Basketball team has cracked the USA TODAY Sports Division II Top-25 Poll. The team is ranked No. 22 in this week’s poll, its first national ranking since 2007.

Missouri Western is off to a 3-0 start, outscoring opponents by an average of 26 points per game. The Griffons average 90.3 points per game and are allowing 64.3 per contest. From the field, Missouri Western has shot 50 percent with a 44 percent three-point shooting percentage and 85 percent from the free throw line. Six Griffons are averaging at least nine points a game, with five averaging double-digits. Sarafina Handy’s 18 points per game leads the team. Julia Torres and LaQuinta Jefferson are both averaging 15 points and eight rebounds per game.

Missouri Western puts its perfect record on the line this weekend when the team hosts Evangel University and Graceland University in the Holiday Inn Express Classic. The Griffons will play Evangel on the 27th and Graceland on the 28th.

MIAA foe Emporia State remains at No. 1 in this week’s poll. Fort Hays State moved up from 10th to 7th.

Rank    Institution – First Place Votes    Previous Rank    Record    Points
1    Emporia State University (Kan.) – 20    1    4-0    593
2    Lewis University (Ill.) – 1    2    5-0    557
3    Nova Southeastern University (Fla.) – 1    4    4-0    525
4    California Baptist University – 2    3    4-0    499
5    University of Alaska – Anchorage    7    10-0    472
6    West Texas A&M University    9    4-0    428
7    Fort Hays State University (Kan.)    10    4-0    399
8    Drury University (Mo.)    11    2-0    369
9    Limestone College (S.C.)    12    3-0    340
10    Union University (Tenn.)    13    4-0    329
11    Winona State University (MN)    16    6-0    320
12    California University of Pennsylvania (Pa.)    5    4-1    291
13    Ashland University (Ohio)    15    3-0    257
14    Columbus State University (Ga.)    6    3-1    244
15    Arkansas Tech University (Ark.)    18    3-0    241
16    Michigan Technological University    8    2-1    231
17    Queens College (N.Y.)    17    2-0    209
18    Lubbock Christian University (Texas)    23    4-0    207
19    Anderson University (S.C.)    22    1-0    139
20    Carson-Newman University (Tenn.)    NR    4-0    134
21    West Liberty University (W.Va.)    21    4-1    95
22    Missouri Western State    NR    3-0    93
23    Wayne State College (Neb.)    24    4-1    87
24    Bentley University (Mass.)    NR    4-0    84
T25    Azusa Pacific University (Calif.)    NR    5-0    77
T25    Colorado Mesa University    19    1-1    77

— MWSU Athletics —

ST. JOSEPH – The Missouri Western men’s basketball team got back to the .500 mark behind hot shooting in an 86-63 win over Graceland Monday night inside the MWSU Fieldhouse.

Western shot 43 percent from the field, 48 percent from three-point range and 83 percent from the free throw line to move to 2-2 on the season.

The Griffons jumped out to a 46-31 halftime lead behind 56 percent three-point shooting and nine made three-pointers in the first half. Missouri Western sank 12 three’s on the night, five from Cole Clearman and four from Trey Sampson. Sampson led all scorers with 23 points. He and Clearman were two of four Griffons in double figures. Clearman finished with 17, Mataika Koyamainavure had 13 and Kevin Thomas had a double-double, scoring 11 and adding 10 rebounds.

Missouri Western forced 16 Graceland turnovers and turned the ball over just nine times with 17 assists. Missouri Western also finished with a 35-31 advantage on the glass and limited Graceland to 36 percent shooting from three-point range.

The Griffons hit the road for a few weeks, beginning with a trip to San Antonio, Texas for the St. Mary’s Thanksgiving Classic. Missouri Western will face Angelo State on the 27th and St. Mary’s on the 28th.

— MWSU Athletics —

ST. JOSEPH – The Missouri Western Women’s Basketball coaching staff and student-athletes will conduct a free youth clinic this weekend in conjunction with the 2nd Annual Holiday Inn Express Classic.

The clinic is open to girls in grades 2-6 and will be held from 9 a.m. until 11 a.m., Saturday, Nov. 28 in the MWSU Fieldhouse. The first 250 participants will receive a free ticket to Saturday night’s games in addition to the free clinic. Registration for the clinic is at 8:30 a.m.

Participants in this year’s classic include William Jewell, Evangel University and Graceland University. Missouri Western hosts Evangel on the 27th at 7:30 p.m. after Graceland and William Jewell play at 5:30. On Saturday, Missouri Western will play Graceland at 5 p.m. after Evangel and William Jewell face-off at 3 p.m.

— MWSU Athletics —

ST. JOSEPH – The Missouri Western men’s basketball team was outscored 49-31 in the second half on the way to an 84-73 loss to Saint Mary Saturday inside the MWSU Fieldhouse. The loss drops Missouri Western to 1-2 on the season.

The Griffons took a 42-35 lead to halftime but cold shooting and turnovers hurt the team in the second half. Missouri Western shot 34 percent from the field in the second frame, 15 percent from behind the arc. Meanwhile, Saint Mary shot 47 percent from the field after halftime. Missouri Western ended the game with 16 total turnovers and 15 assists. On the glass, the teams were even at 41 rebounds each. Saint Mary totaled 10 steals and Missouri Western finished with four.

Cole Clearman led Missouri Western with 16 points. Mataika Koyamianavure finished with 15 points and eight rebounds. Wes Mitter had 13 points and Trey Sampson added 11. The Griffons stay at home with a game against Graceland scheduled for Monday, the 23rd at 7 p.m. in the fieldhouse.

— MWSU Athletics —