Box Score

The Malone University men's basketball team secured a berth in next week's American Mideast Conference Postseason Tournament on Tuesday night with a convincing 75-45 victory in its home contest against Notre Dame College. The Pioneers built a commanding 34-15 halftime lead after forcing 15 Falcon turnovers and limiting NDC to just six-of-21 (28.6%) shooting over the first 20 minutes. An 11-2 Notre Dame surge pulled the visitors to within 41-30 early in the second stanza but that was as close as the Falcons would get the rest of the way as Malone pulled away over the remainder of the game. The triumph marked the second victory of the season for the Pioneers over Notre Dame as Malone had previously pulled out a 65-62 win over the Falcons in a January 18th match-up between the two squads in South Euclid. The Pioneers' record improved to 18-10 overall and 11-5 in the AMC following Tuesday's outcome while NDC fell to 10-18 overall and 5-11 in the conference.

With two games left on its regular-season schedule, Malone has now cemented one of the AMC's five playoff spots. The Pioneers can assure themselves of a first-round home game with a win on Thursday in their 5:30 p.m. home contest against Cedarville University (See Playoff Picture below).

Notre Dame struggled to get its offense on track for much of Tuesday's match-up as the Falcons committed a total of 22 turnovers while shooting 32.7% (16-of-49) from the field, 25% (2-of-8) from beyond the three-point arc, and 64.7% (11-of-17) from the foul line. Malone countered by making 44.3% (31-of-70) of its shots from the floor, 29.6% (8-of-27) of its three-pointers and 83.3% (5-of-6) of its free throws. The Pioneers also held a 41-34 edge in total rebounds and out-scored the Falcons by a 36-20 margin in the paint.

Guard Eric Coblentz scored all of his game-high 13 points in the first half to go with a total of three assists and three rebounds. Forward Ebiowei Porbeni followed with 12 points, seven rebounds and two blocked shots. Forward Cory Veldhuizen added 10 points and six boards while forward Jock Rottman and guard Kyle Higgins each provided a lift off the bench by totaling nine and eight points, respectively.

Forward Curtis McClure paced the Falcons with 12 points while forward Eric Dummermuth, who entered the contest as the AMC's top scorer and second-leading rebounder, was held to nine points and nine boards.

The Pioneers' 5:30 p.m. contest with Cedarville on Thursday is actually a make-up game that was originally scheduled for February 1st but had to be postponed because of icy weather conditions. Malone notched an 81-60 victory over the Yellow Jackets in this season's previous match-up which was held at Cedarville on November 30th. Fans that cannot be in attendance at Osborne Hall for Thursday's game can follow the action live on the internet with free streaming video and statistics.

Playoff Picture: This season, the American Mideast Conference will award two automatic bids to the NAIA Division II Men's Basketball National Tournament. Despite suffering its first loss of the season on Saturday afternoon at Roberts Wesleyan (NY) College, Walsh University has locked up the first bid after having already secured the AMC regular-season title. The second bid will be awarded to the winner of the four-team AMC Qualifying Tournament that will consist of finishers two through five in the final regular-season standings. The tournament will begin on Tuesday, February 22nd with No. 5 traveling to No. 2 and No. 4 at No. 3. The winner of these opening round games will then face-off at the highest remaining seed's home court on Saturday February 26th with a trip to the NAIA Division II National Tournament on the line. The conference's two national tournament representatives (Walsh and the qualifying tourney winner) will then take part in an AMC Tournament Championship Game that will be held at Walsh on Tuesday, March 1st. (See AMC Tournament Bracket below)

Following Tuesday's action around the conference, Malone is currently tied with Cedarville for second place in the AMC standings with identical 11-5 conference marks. Roberts Wesleyan, currently on a seven-game winning streak, is fourth with a 10-6 AMC record. Daemen (NY) College is fifth at 9-8. Point Park (PA) University is a half game behind Daemen at 8-8 and Mount Vernon Nazarene University is seventh with an 8-9 conference mark.

With a win over the Yellow Jackets on Thursday, the Pioneers would secure a second-place finish in the regular-season standings and would therefore hold “home-court advantage" throughout both rounds of the AMC Qualifying Tournament. However, with a loss on Thursday to the Yellow Jackets, Malone would likely need to win its regular-season finale at Mount Vernon Nazarene on Saturday in order to host a first-round playoff game.

AMC Tournament Bracket

AMC Men's Basketball Standings