ST. JOSEPH – A rough fourth quarter couldn’t keep the Missouri Western women’s basketball team from winning its ninth game of the season Wednesday night, as they defeated the University of Saint Mary 76-60 inside the MWSU Fieldhouse.

Western went just 1-for-16 from the field in the fourth quarter and were outscored 20-5 in the final period after building a 33-point lead late in the third quarter.

HEADLINES

– Missouri Western shot 62.5% from the field in the second quarter and 70.6% in the third quarter, leading by as many as 33 points
– The Griffons forced 26 Saint Mary turnovers
– Missouri Western had 21 total assists on 32 made field goals
– Ten Griffons scored in the game with all 12 appearing in a game for the first time all season

TOP PERFORMERS

– Chelsea Dewey led Missouri Western with 14 points on 5-10 shooting from the field
– Julia Torres had another double-double with a team-high 11 rebounds to go with her 13 points. She also had four steals and three assists
– Sefulu Faavae had a career-high nine assists

UP NEXT

Missouri Western opens a non-conference doubleheader with the Griffon men’s basketball team against Haskell Indian Nations University on Monday at 5:30 p.m.

— MWSU Athletics —

ST. JOSEPH – Missouri Western head football coach Matt Williamson has announced the addition of seven members of the 2017 Griffon Football coaching staff.

The staff includes a range of experience from different areas and different levels of football coaching. Williamson’s first staff will include two former members of the Griffon Football team and three Missouri Western graduates.

Williamson’s 2017 assistant coaches will include: Chet Pobolish – offensive coordinator, Patrick St. Louis – run game coordinator/offensive line, Ryan Watts – wide receivers, Colin McQuillan – running backs, Michael Walton – defensive coordinator, Scorpio Horn – defensive line and Justin Richter – defensive backs.

“All the pieces of the puzzle fell right into place. We have a phenomenal staff,” Williamson said. They are high character family men that work day in and day out with passion and energy. I wanted very a very experienced and successful staff of recruiters – that’s the bloodline of our program. I can’t wait to get going, the staff is pumped and ready to go.”

Chet Pobolish returns to the MIAA after a successful playing career at Emporia State (1996-99). The four-time All-MIAA wide receiver comes to Missouri Western after spending six seasons in various positions on the Southeastern Louisiana University football staff, including offensive coordinator for two seasons. Prior to Southeastern State, Pobolish was the special teams coordinator and wide receivers coach at Delta State from 2007-11.  He began his coaching career at Emporia State where he worked with quarterbacks and wide receivers.

Like Williamson, Michael Walton comes to Missouri Western from Stephen F. Austin where he was the special teams coordinator and safeties coach since 2014. The Eastern New Mexico alumnus previously served as defensive coordinator at Angelo State (2011-13), New Mexico Military Institute (2010-11) and Eastern New Mexico (2006-07). Walton also coached Sam Houston State as a special teams coordinator and corners coach (2007-10) after beginning his career at Eastern New Mexico as a safeties coach.

Patrick St. Louis returns to his alma mater after spending six of the last seven seasons at Morehead State University. The former Griffon offensive lineman was offensive coordinator at Morehead State for the past two seasons after serving as offensive line coach since 2013. St. Louis began his coaching career as a student assistant at Missouri Western before becoming a graduate assistant at Morehead State. He coached offensive line for one season, 2012, at Olivet College before returning to Morehead in 2013.

Scorpio Horn also makes his return to Missouri Western. The former Griffon defensive and offensive lineman spent the past three seasons as head coach at William Chrisman High School in Independence, Missouri. Horn was defensive coordinator for three seasons at Park Hill South High School before moving to the Independence School District. The 2005 Missouri Western graduate’s brother, Joe Horn, played wide receiver for the Kansas City Chiefs and New Orleans Saints.

Colin McQuillan transitions from graduate assistant to full-time assistant on the Griffon coaching staff.  McQuillan served as a defensive graduate assistant for two years at Missouri Western after high school coaching stops at KC Wyandotte and Riverside High School. McQuillan was a student assistant at Missouri Western before receiving his bachelor’s degree in 2012.

Justin Richter returns to the area after graduating from the University of Saint Mary in Leavenworth, Kansas in 2010. Richter was most recently a defensive graduate assistant at the University of California-Berkley. He also coached at West Texas A&M, University of New Mexico, Angelo State and New Mexico Military Institute.

Ryan Watts was most recently an offensive assistant at Abilene Christian. Prior to joining the ACU staff, Watts was a graduate assistant and assistant director of football operations at Stephen F. Austin.

Williamson also announced the addition of Kedrick Harrison as a graduate assistant. Harrison will work with defensive ends. Some changes to existing graduate assistants’ duties were also announced. Brian Chiles will now work with tight ends after spending the 2016 season working with running backs. Derek Fulton will remain working with quarterbacks while Chance Alberswerth remains with the linebackers.

— MWSU Athletics —

EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. – For the first time in 36 years, the Missouri Western men’s basketball team knocked off a Division-I program, winning 49-44 at Southern Illinois-Edwardsville on Saturday afternoon.

HEADLINES

– First win over a Division I opponent for MWSU in 36 years (Northern Iowa, 1980)
– First road win of the 2016-17 season and first road win since Mar. 1 of last season (at Washburn in the MIAA Tournament)
– Missouri Western shot a little better than 40 percent from the field and attempted just one free throw in the game

KEY MOMENTS

– Seth Bonifas gave the Griffons the lead, 42-41, on a jump hook that capped a 7-0 run for Missouri Western with 4:13 left
– TJ Evans knocked down a wide-open three with 3:28 left to extend the lead to 45-41
– Missouri Western went on a 19-4 run in the first half that saw a 12-6 deficit become a 25-16 lead with 3:27 left in the half
– SIU-Edwardsville answered the MWSU first half run with a 7-0 run to close the first half and go to the locker room down two (25-23)
– SIU-Edwardsville was 9-15 from the free throw line in the second half, going 1-4 from the line under three minutes.

TOP PERFORMERS
– Aaron Emmanuel had his first double-double of the season with 10 points and 10 rebounds
– Cole Clearman ended with 14 points including 4-9 from the three-point line
– TJ Evans scored 11 points, shooting 5-9 from the field
– Seth Bonifas went 4-7 from the field, highlighted by 3-5 in the second half

UP NEXT
Missouri Western (2-8) hosts Baker University in a single non-conference game on Sunday, Dec. 18 at 2 p.m.

— MWSU Athletics —

ST. JOSEPH – Missouri Western baseball infielder David Glaude has been named to the 2016 All-Canadian College Team by Canadian Baseball Network.

Glaude was a second team All-American, first team All-region by the NCBWA and ABCA/Rawlings and first team All-MIAA in 2016. He led MWSU in batting average (.408), hits (91), doubles (22), triples (6) and RBIs (74) as well tying for second on team with 10 home runs. Glaude also set two single season records with his 74 RBIs and 22 doubles last season.

Missouri Western opens the 2017 season in Grand Prairie, Texas against Southern Arkansas and Oklahoma Christian University on February 2.

— MWSU Athletics —

MARYVILLE, Mo. – The Missouri Western women’s basketball team made it five straight wins over rival Northwest Missouri State and three straight over the Bearcats in Maryville with a 72-58 win Tuesday night.

HEADLINES
– Fifth-straight win in the series for Missouri Western
– Third-straight win in Maryville for the Griffons after losing their previous five
– Sefulu Faavae had a career-high 17 points, career-high six steals and five rebounds
– Erin Anderson had a double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds

KEY MOMENTS
– Missouri Western opened the game on an 12-2 run and led 19-6 before Northwest went on a 17-4 run to tie the game at 23
– The Griffons answered with a 12-4 run
– Northwest Missouri shot 71 percent from the field in the second quarter, outscoring the Griffons 22-19 to pull within four at the half
– Missouri Western limited Northwest Missouri to 27 (3-11) percent shooting in the fourth quarter

TOP PERFORMERS
– Faavae’s career-high point total came on 6-11 shooting from the field
– Anderson led Missouri Western with 10 rebounds and was 4-6 from the field for 11 points
– Chelsea Dewey scored 12 points, playing just 23 minutes after falling into early foul trouble

UP NEXT
Missouri Western gets a break from MIAA play, and just a break overall. The Griffons next play on Dec. 14 when they host Saint Mary (Kan.) in a single women’s game at 7 p.m. in the MWSU Fieldhouse.

— MWSU Athletics —

ST. JOSEPH – The Missouri Western women’s basketball team had its 12-game home winning streak snapped on Saturday afternoon, falling 66-58 to Central Missouri.

HEADLINES
– Central Missouri closed the game on a 13-1 run
– Missouri Western led by four with 4:31 left, but did not make a field goal the rest of the game (0-5)
– It was the first home loss for the Griffons since Jan. 23, 2016 to Nebraska-Kearney and just the second home loss since Jan. 10, 2015 (25 games)

KEY MOMENT

– Julia Torres missed a layup with 3:32 left that would have given Missouri Western a 59-55 lead. The Griffons did not make another field goal the rest of the game an Central Missouri begin its 13-1 run following the missed layup.

TOP PERFORMERS
– Sefulu Faavae led the Griffons with 12 points
– Erin Anderson had a team-high eight rebounds along with eight points
– Julia Torres scored eight points with four rebounds and a team-high five points

UP NEXT

Missouri Western (7-2) travels to Northwest Missouri State on Tuesday, Dec. 5 for a 5:30 tip-off

— MWSU Athletics —

ST. JOSEPH – The Missouri Western men’s basketball team (1-7) couldn’t overcome a 14-point halftime deficit, eventually falling 76-59 to Central Missouri (5-1) Saturday afternoon in the MWSU Fieldhouse.

HEADLINES
– After trailing by 17 with 1:53 left in the first half, Missouri Western cut the UCM lead to nine with 10:19 left in the game off a Cole Clearman layup
– Central Missouri went on an 11-3 run after the Griffons cut the lead to nine, going back up by 17; the Mules didn’t lead by less than 16 the rest of the way
– Missouri Western shot 62.5 percent from the free throw line (6-19)
– Central Missouri shot 57 percent from the field, 52 percent from three-point range and 73 percent from the free throw line

KEY MOMENTS

– Central Missouri went on a 23-9 run in the first half after leading by just one point that stretched to 17 after the run
– Missouri Western opened the second half on an 8-2 run to cut the 14-point halftime deficit to eight with 17:27 to go in the game
– Jakob Lowrance hit a three-point field goal for Central Missouri to put the Mules up 54-42 with 10:19 left after Clearman’s layup had cut the lead to nine

TOP PERFORMERS
– Joe Hamilton led Missouri Western with 13 points on 4-9 shooting from the field
– Cole Clearman scored 11 points and Aaron Emmanuel added 10
– Boris Rajovic had a team-high five rebounds
– Emmanuel and Clearman each had five assists

UP NEXT

Missouri Western travels to No. 3 Northwest Missouri State (7-0) on Tuesday, Dec. 5 for a 7:30 p.m. tip-off

— MWSU Athletics —

ST. JOSEPH – Two members of the 2016 Missouri Western football team have been named second team All-Region by the Division II Conference Commissioners Association (D2CCA).

Running back Josh Caldwell and offensive lineman Travis Anderson both received the honor. It’s Caldwell’s fourth postseason honor so far as the MIAA’s leading rusher was also named unanimous first team All-MIAA, first team CoSIDA Academic All-District and second team CoSIDA Academic All-America.

It was Anderson’s second postseason honor of 2016. The senior guard was also named first team All-MIAA for the third straight year. The Derby, Kansas native was an honorable mention Don Hansen All-American a season ago and started 32 of 33 games over the past three seasons, blocking for the MIAA’s leading rusher twice in that same time span.

— MWSU Athletics —