His dad was a collegiate All-American and played in the NBA for nearly 10 seasons.

        His brother is a teammate who has played with him through high school, AAU, junior college and now at Midwestern State.

        So it would seem only natural that MSU senior guard Kevin Grayer is used to sharing the spotlight, within his team or even his family.

        The son of former NBA veteran Jeff Grayer, and brother of MSU teammate Jeff Grayer Jr., Kevin doesn’t seem to mind taking a backseat. 

        But when the opportunity arises, Grayer certainly isn’t afraid to shine in the spotlight, something he proved in a major way in Wednesday night’s quarterfinal game against Texas A&M-Commerce.

        “The basket looked huge to me,” Grayer said with a big smile. “Some nights are like that. You try to play within the offense, but at the same time you want to take advantage when you’re playing like that.”

        Grayer certainly took advantage, pouring in a career-high 33 points for the Mustangs, who will play Friday night in the semifinals against the winner of Incarnate Word/Texas A&M-Kingsville.

        In fact, Grayer said he couldn’t recall that type of game since high school.

        “I’ve had maybe 30 points in (Oakland CC) junior college, but not that many points,” he said. “I was just trying to be active and drive the ball. And the shots were falling.”

        Grayer was 11 of 16 from the floor and hit all but one of his nine free-throw attempts. More importantly, MSU head coach Nelson Haggerty said Grayer was playing within the offense. In fact, the Mustangs needed his offensive production with All-LSC first-team pick Corbin Thomas on the bench for most of the game in foul trouble.

        “I thought KG was huge for us. He didn’t take one bad shot,” Haggerty said. “He wasn’t forcing anything. He’s a smart player and he was just finishing around the basket.”

        Grayer entered the tournament averaging 11.4 points per game, but had just two games all season of 20 points or more. He was a second-team All-LSC performer, which he admitted gave him some added motivation heading into the first game Wednesday night.

        “You’re always honored to get an award,” he said. “But your goal is to be the best you can be and that’s a first-teamer. So when you don’t get it, you just come out and try to prove to people in the conference that you’re good enough to be considered with the best.”

        Grayer made that point loud and clear Wednesday night.