Box Score
The Malone University men's basketball team snapped its four-game losing streak on Saturday in Malone's Osborne Hall as the Pioneers topped the visiting Ashland University Eagles by the score of 73-65.  The host Pioneers weren't shy about tossing up the long ball and it paid off as the squad connected on 11 of 27 from three-point land which was a key factor in the victory.

With the win, Malone improved to 7-6 overall and got back to even in GLIAC play at 5-5.  The Eagles dropped to 4-9 overall and to 2-8 in the GLIAC.

Malone came out strong in the first half, opening up an 18-10 lead at the 15:10 mark but the Eagles chipped away at the lead and even took a four-point lead of their own before the two teams settled in for a 29-29 tie at the intermission.

In the second half, it was Ashland who came out with a bit of fire as the visitors opened up their largest lead of the game, at 44-32, with 15:18 left in the contest.  But from that point, the tide quickly turned towards the hosts as forward Cory Veldhuizen, who had hit a pair of three-point baskets up to that point, started a barrage of three pointers down the stretch that would give him a career-high 27 points on the night and hand Malone a convincing 73-65 win.  In the final 15 minutes, Malone outscored Ashland by a 41-21 margin to secure the eight-point win.

Veldhuizen's stellar 27-point effort came behind an impressive seven-of-nine effort from three point range. Overall, he was nine-of-14 from the field while also pulling down a team-best six rebounds on the day. Guard Isiah Elliott also had another big game as he tossed in 22 points while also contributing five rebounds and a team-high (tied) five assists.

Guard Che Richardson tallied six points, four rebounds, five assists and a team-best seven steals while center Brian Stone also chalked up six points to go along with his five rebounds.

Ashland was led in scoring by Evan Yates who had 21 points followed by Will Evans who chipped in 17 points.  Yates also paced the Eagles in rebounds with a game-high 15.

Malone drilled 25 of 62 field goal attempts for 40.3% while Ashland tossed in 24 of 52 for 46.2%. While the Pioneers hit the aforementioned 11 of 27 (40.7%) from three-point range, the Eagles were able to connect on only six of 17 tries for 35.3%.  Free throws were fairly even on the day with Malone converting 12 of 17 for 70.6% while Ashland netted 11 of 19 for 57.9%.  In addition, the Eagles held a slight 38-32 advantage on the boards.

Malone will be back in action next Thursday when the squad travels to Tiffin University (6-9, 3-7 GLIAC) for a 6:00 p.m. contest.  In its most recent game (Saturday), Tiffin defeated the University of Findlay (at Findlay) to end the Oilers' 81-game home conference winning streak.   Live audio will be available for the Malone at Tiffin contest.