Box Score

The Malone University men's basketball team concluded its regular-season schedule on Saturday afternoon with a hard-fought 78-72 road loss to Cedarville University.  The host Yellow Jackets managed to recover from an early 19-7 deficit, cutting the Pioneer lead to 38-34 at halftime before eventually putting the game away by outscoring Malone 10-4 over the final two minutes. 

Cedarville improved to 18-8 overall with Saturday's victory and, in the process, also locked up the top seed in next week's Ohio Independent Championships.  Malone, meanwhile, dropped to 12-14 following its second narrow loss to the Yellow Jackets this season.  The Pioneers have earned the OIC Postseason Tournament's No. 4 seed and will host an opening-round OIC playoff game on Tuesday at 7:30 pm against the No. 5 seed, Urbana University.  Check out the postseason section below for more OIC Tournament information.

Just like in its 91-89 overtime loss to Cedarville at Osborne Hall on January 7th, Malone held a four-point halftime advantage in Saturday's re-match.  Forward Cory Veldhuizen helped fuel the Pioneers early on by scoring 18 of Malone's first 27 points.  The sophomore from North Canton accounted for four of the seven three-pointers made by the Pioneers over the first 20 minutes.

After pulling out to the 19-7 lead early on, Malone's halftime advantage could have been even greater had the Yellow Jackets not put together first-half scoring runs of 13-3 and 10-2 to stay within striking distance. 

An 8-0 Cedarville surge put the hosts in front 57-54 midway through the final stanza.  The two squads then battled back and forth over the next few minutes as the score was knotted at 59-59, 61-61 and finally 68-68 before a pair of buckets by Yellow Jacket forward Zimmy Nwogbo put the Cedarville on top by four with about 60 seconds to play.  The Pioneers twice cut the lead to two – first at 72-70 on a pair of Isiah Elliott free throws with 56 ticks remaining and then at 74-72 on a Zach Bates lay-up with 16.8 showing on the clock.  However, Nwogbo managed to seal the Cedarville victory by going 4-for-4 at the foul line in the final moments.

Velduizen ended the afternoon with a game-high 25 points on 9 of 15 shooting from the floor, including four-of-five accuracy from beyond the three-point arc.  He also connected on three of four free throws and grabbed seven rebounds.  Bates totaled 12 points, seven boards and two blocked shots.  Forward Che Richardson added 11 points and nine rebounds while Elliott registered 11 points and three assists. 

Nwogbo paced the Yellow Jackets with 18 points, 16 of which came in the second half.  He also grabbed 11 rebounds and blocked five shots.  Guard Austin Foote added 15 points.

Cedarville got a big lift from its reserves, outscoring Malone 31-5 in bench points.  After hitting 7 of 13 (53.8%) treys in the first half, the Pioneers cooled off in the second stanza, going just 1-for-6 (16.7%) from beyond the arc over the final 20 minutes.  Overall, Malone knocked down 27 of 65 (41.5%) shots from the field, eight of 19 (42.1%) three-pointers and 10 of 11 (90.9%) foul shots.  Cedarville countered by connecting on 30 of 60 (50%) field-goal attempts, nine of 20 (45%) three-pointers and nine of 10 (90%) free throws.

Postseason Picture (Click here for a complete OIC men's bracket):
Malone will compete as the No. 4 seed in this week's Ohio Independent Championships, a six-team postseason tournament made up of schools from around the Buckeye State who are currently in the transition process to become NCAA Division II members or are current NCAA Division II members unaffiliated with a conference.  In addition to Malone, participating schools include Cedarville University, Central State University, Notre Dame College, Urbana University and Walsh University.

Cedarville and Walsh, the top two OIC teams (based on winning percentage in games against other OIC participants) have earned opening-round byes.  The other four teams will compete in first-round games on Tuesday, February 28th with the No. 3 seed hosting the No. 6 seed and the No. 4 squad hosting the No. 5 team.  The tournament semifinals and championship game will then be held March 2nd and 3rd (Friday-Saturday) at Cedarville (the No. 1 seed).

Malone and Central State both finished with .500 records in OIC play but because the Pioneers lost a tie-breaking coin flip on Friday, the Marauders will compete as the No. 3 seed.  Tuesday's opening-round match-ups will feature No. 5 Urbana at No. 4 Malone and No. 6 Notre Dame at No. 3 Central State.

Malone will not be eligible to participate in the NCCAA (National Christian College Athletic Association) East Region Tournament since it did not finish the regular season with at least a .500 overall record.