Men's Basketball Has Late Rally Fall Short in Loss to Graceland

Lamoni, Iowa, (Jan. 20, 2024)- The Missouri Valley College men's and women's basketball teams traveled to Lamoni, Iowa, for a Heart of America Athletic Conference doubleheader against Graceland (Iowa), Saturday afternoon.  The women's team fell by a score of 64-48, and the men's team fell, 87-83.

Missouri Valley fell into a deficit at the start of the men's game, trailing, 7-0, with just over two minutes played.  The first two field goals for the Vikings were three-pointers, coming from Junior J'Luan Patterson (Belleville, Ill.) and Senior Keenan Jones (Chicago, Ill.) to cut the deficit down to 7-6 moments later.  The Yellowjackets gradually added to their lead over the next two minutes, making it a 17-9 score.  Senior Vincent Taylor (Dallas, Texas) finished off a layup, while Jones tacked on another three-pointer to work the team back to a 19-15 deficit near the 12-minute mark.  Graceland responded and again increased its advantage, this time to double-digits, 25-15, with just over eight minutes played in the contest.  Missouri Valley was outscored by a 13-3 margin over the next five minutes to trail, 38-18.  Patterson ended the drought with a pair of layups, Junior Logan Walker (Lebam, Wash.) sank a three-pointer and Junior Dylan Drive (Covington, Ga.) added a layup to put the score at 43-27 with just over three minutes to play in the half.  The Vikings continued their run, helped by three-pointers from both Walker and Patterson, along with a layup from Driver to end a 17-5 run and make it 43-35 in the final two minutes.  The final basket of the half came from Walker to send MVC into halftime trailing, 48-37.

The two teams went scoreless through a stretch of play to start the second half.  The first field goal came with nearly three minutes played, on a three-pointer from Patterson, followed by a layup from Patterson to cut the deficit down to 50-42.  The two teams traded points over the next few minutes, which featured a layup from Taylor and a three-point field goal from Walker to make it a 57-50 score near the 14-minute mark.  A basket from Drive one minute later put the gap at 57-52 for the Vikings.  Junior Geovonni Floyd (Bowling Green, Ky.) added three points over the next two minutes, but Graceland worked its advantage back out to double-digits, 66-55, midway through the half.  Missouri Valley eventually trailed, 70-58, at the eight-minute mark.  Jones started a run with a layup, while Smith made a pair of free throws.  Driver and Jones each put in one layup to help the team seal an 8-0 run, and trail, 70-66 with less than six minutes to play.  Another four points from Jones cut the gap to 72-70 moments later, but GU pushed its lead out to 76-70 with under three minutes to play in the second half.  Graceland stretched its lead out to 79-72, which was cut down on a three-point play from Junior Cawhan Smith (Collinsville, Ill.) to make it a 79-75 score with just over one minute left on the clock.  The Yellowjackets put the game away by scoring the next five points.  Missouri Valley used five late points from Patterson and a three-pointer from Smith, but fell by a final score of 87-83.

Patterson led with career high 23 points to go with six rebounds.  Jones added 17 points, while Walker came off the bench to score 12 points and grab six rebounds.  Missouri Valley forced 13 turnovers in the game and had 27 points come off the bench.

Missouri Valley drops to 8-10 on the season and 7-7 in the Heart.  Graceland improves to 15-3 overall and 12-2 in the conference.

Up next, the Missouri Valley basketball teams will host Grand View (Iowa) in a Heart doubleheader, Monday, inside the Burns Athletic Complex.  Women's game at 5 p.m., followed by the men's game at 7 p.m.  These games were impacted by weather, and originally scheduled for Jan. 13.

About Missouri Valley College

Known for its dynamic, richly diverse, and friendly educational environment, Missouri Valley College offers many opportunities to grow in mind, body, and spirit. Grounded in the liberal arts, undergraduate studies empower students to master interdisciplinary skills needed to succeed in a knowledge-based global society. MVC offers over 30 academic programs, study abroad program, extracurricular activities, and a wide variety of sports. The most popular majors include education and business, criminal justice and exercise science. Above all, Valley is committed to student success. For more information, call (660) 831-4000 or visit www.moval.edu.