The Malone University men's basketball team suffered a 76-51 defeat during its Great Midwest Athletic Conference road contest at Cedarville University on Thursday night.

The Pioneers kept things close for a majority of the opening stanza before a 10-0 scoring run allowed the Yellow Jackets to open up a 29-17 advantage with three minutes remaining in the first half.  Malone answered right back with a 10-2 surge of its own, trimming the deficit to 31-27 on a three-pointer by forward Nate Sheppard with 30 seconds remaining in the period. 

Cedarville's Kwenton Scott then gave the hosts a boost heading to the locker room as he sank a corner trey just before the halftime buzzer sounded to put the Yellow Jackets on top 34-27. 

CU then shot over 60% from the field over the final 20 minutes to pull away for its fourth straight victory.

With the loss, Malone fell to 8-10 overall and 2-4 in the G-MAC while the Yellow Jackets improved to 9-11 and 1-4 in conference play.
 
Game Highlights
-The Pioneers struggled to get on track offensively for much of the evening as they posted their lowest numbers of the season in several stat categories including points (51), shooting percentage (29.3%), three-pointers made (5) and assists (4)
-The Yellow Jackets also had trouble connecting from three-point range (20.8%), but fared well inside the arc, hitting 50% of their overall shots from the field
-Malone made 12 of 15 free throws (80%) while Cedarville went 11 of 17 (64.7%) at the line
 
Malone Individual Highlights
-Forward Djuro Pantos registered the first double-double of his Pioneer career with 11 points and a game-high 10 rebounds
-Guard Christian Graves connected on three attempts from long range and finished the night with 11 points, five rebounds and two steals
-Forward Mitchell Spotleson added nine points and six rebounds
 
Cedarville Individual Highlights
-Guard Patrick Bain registered 19 points, eight rebounds and three assists in just 23 minutes
-Guard J.C. Faubion contributed 17 points, five assists and three boards
-Kwenton Scott came off the bench to tally 14 points

Up Next:
With its five-game stretch of road games complete, Malone will look to bounce back on Saturday when it hosts a 3:00 p.m. home contest against Bluefield State College.