Box Score
The Malone University men's basketball team suffered only its third loss of the season on Wednesday evening as the Pioneers fell to the visiting Wayne State University (MI) Warriors by the score of 70-59 in Malone's Osborne Hall.  With the loss, Malone dropped to 6-3 overall and to 4-2 in the GLIAC while WSU stayed perfect in GLIAC play at 5-0 while improving to 6-2 overall.

The Warriors got an early jump on the hosts by pulling out to a 17-7 lead seven minutes into the contest but the Pioneers quickly battled back to cut the deficit to just one point on several occasions, the latest being at 26-25 with 8:55 remaining in the first stanza.  Wayne State responded, though, and pulled away to a 40-30 halftime lead.

In the second half, the Warriors proceeded to hold leads of between four and 10 points until midway through the period at which point Malone started to cut deep into the deficit, trimming the WSU lead to just two points, at 54-52 with 6:04 remaining in the game.  But the visitors would not be overtaken as they responded with a 16-7 run over that final stretch to post the 11-point win over the Pioneers.

Four Pioneers reached double digits in scoring  led by guard Christian Graves who tossed in 12 points, all of which came from three-point range.  He also added four rebounds and two steals. Forward Zach Bates followed with 11 points while pulling down a team-best seven rebounds.  Guard Isiah Elliott and forward Cory Veldhuizen each contributed 10 points on the night with Elliott adding three assists and two steals and Veldhuizen pocketing three assists.

Mike Hollingsworth paced the Warriors with 20 points followed by Chene Phillips with 18. Hollingsworth and Ian Larkin grabbed a team-high six rebounds each.

Malone connected on 37.7% (20-53) of its field goal attempts while Wayne State held a solid advantage at 54.3% (25-46). From three-point range, the Pioneers drilled seven of 22 for 31.8% while the Warriors sank four of 12 for 33.3%.  At the foul line, Malone converted 12 of 20 for 60.0% as WSU made 16 of 28 for 57.1%.  A close rebounding battle saw Malone hold a slight 34-32 edge.

Malone will not compete again until a Thursday, January 3rd contest at Ferris State University (MI) in a 6:00 p.m. game.  Live video, live audio and live stats will be available for this contest.  
**NOTE: The Malone men's home game vs. Penn State University-Greater Allegheny that was originally scheduled for Sat., Dec. 29th has been postponed to Wed., Jan. 30th at 7:30 p.m.