Box Score

The Malone University men's basketball team fell behind 39-24 at halftime and never recovered in a 79-63 road loss to the University of Findlay on Saturday afternoon.

The red-hot Oilers, fresh off a dramatic comeback win at Walsh University on Thursday evening, stretched their winning streak to eight straight with Saturday's victory.  The Senior Day triumph also allowed Findlay, currently 21-4 overall and 17-4 in Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference play, to increase its lead in the GLIAC South Division standings to one and half games. 

Malone, which had already clinched a GLIAC Tournament spot with its win against Hillsdale (MI) College on Thursday, slipped to 14-11 and 12-9 in conference play with the defeat.  The Pioneers will wrap up the regular season at home on Thursday with the 50th annual Mayors' Cup game against rival Walsh and will then open the GLIAC Tournament with a road game on Wednesday, March 5 (opponent to be determined based on the final overall GLIAC standings).

The Oilers charged out to an early 17-5 lead in Saturday's game before Malone fought back into the contest, using a 16-4 run to knot the score at 21-21 with a little over eight minutes to play in the first half.  Despite the strong surge by the Pioneers, the hosts managed to regain control as Malone converted just one field-goal attempt over the remainder of the period and headed to the locker room facing the 15-point deficit.  Findlay then maintained a double-digit advantage throughout the second half, improving its record to 12-1 in games played on its home court this season.

Malone connected on 51.9% (14 of 27) of its second-half shot attempts, but it was not enough to overcome a cold first half that saw the Pioneers make just nine of 29 (31%) field goals.  The Pioneers ended the day having shot 41.1% (23 of 56) from the floor, 37.5% (nine of 24) from deep and 72.7% (eight of 11) from the foul line.  Findlay countered by hitting 50% (30 of 60) of its field-goal tries, 33.3% (seven of 21) of its treys and 66.7% (12 of 18) of its free throws.

Forward Cory Veldhuizen and guard Stephen O'Daniel III each posted 12 points to lead the way for Malone.  Veldhuizen moved into the Top 25 on Malone's all-time scoring list during the contest, now ranked 25th in program history with 1321 career points.

Forward Che Richardson posted nine points while guard Jason Miller contributed eight.  Guard Isiah Elliott finished with seven points and five assists.

Findlay's Greg Kahlig finished one point shy of his third straight 40-point outing.  The senior netted 39 points with seven rebounds, four steals and three assists in his final regular-season home game.

Click here for a preview of Thursday's Mayors' Cup showdown with Walsh.