The Malone University men's basketball team will begin Great Midwest Athletic Conference Postseason Tournament play this Thursday afternoon at the Sportscenter in Owensboro, Kentucky.  The fourth-seeded Pioneers will take on the fifth-seeded Cedarville University Yellow Jackets at 2:30 p.m. EST (1:30 p.m. CST).  The winner of Thursday's quarterfinal game will then advance to Friday's semifinal round where it will face the G-MAC Regular Season Champion and tournament host, Kentucky Wesleyan College. 
 
GameDay
Malone (14-12, 6-6 G-MAC) vs. Cedarville (13-15, 5-7 G-MAC) - March 2nd - 2:30 pm

G-MAC Tournament Information Page:
http://gmacsports.com/sports/2016/7/25/1617_mbasketball_champ.aspx?path=mbball
Printable Bracket (PDF):
http://static.gmac.sidearmsports.com/custompages/Stats/2016-17/mbb16-17/2017_MBB_Bracket.pdf
Live Stats: http://sidearmstats.com/kwc/mbball/
Live Video: https://portal.stretchinternet.com/gmac/
Tournament Program: Click Here

All-Time Series Matchup
Malone is 52-42 all-time against Cedarville. The two teams, who were rivals for decades in the Mid-Ohio and American Mideast Conferences, split their season series this year with each team winning at home by more than twenty points. Cedarville claimed the first match-up 76-51 at Callan Athletic Center on January 26th.  Just two weeks later, Malone would turn the tables, coming out on top 86-63 in Osborne Hall. Malone's 51 points in the first matchup was its lowest scoring total of the season.  Conversely, the 86 points in the second meeting was the Pioneers' second-highest scoring total against G-MAC opponents.   The last postseason meeting between the two teams came in 2010 as the nationally-ranked Yellow Jackets prevailed 81-58 in the opening round of the AMC Tournament.
 
Team Notes

Malone Notes - Roster | Schedule | Stats

• Thursday's contest will mark the Pioneers' second trip to the postseason since joining the NCAA Division II ranks.  In 2013-14, the Pioneers qualified for the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Tournament and travelled to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan where they knocked off top-seeded Lake Superior State University on its home court by a final score of 73-65.  Malone then fell to Michigan Tech University in the GLIAC Semifinals by a final tally of 75-62.
• Malone shot 49% from the field and 41% from three in their most recent match-up with Cedarville while grabbing 13 steals and limiting the Yellow Jackets to 35% shooting.  Mitchell Spotleson went 4 of 7 from downtown and scored a team-high 24 points in the contest. Christian Graves scored 19 points for the Pioneers and Ty Jordan added 12 points and 11 assists.
• February was by far the most successful month for the Pioneers during the 2016-17 campaign. The team went 5-2 overall during the month, with a five-game winning streak sandwiched between a narrow home loss to nationally-ranked Kentucky Wesleyan on February 2nd and a road loss to Davis & Elkins College in the team's regular-season finale on February 22nd.
• Over the past seven games, Malone averaged 82.0 points per contest while shooting 45% from the field and 38% from three-point range
• The Pioneers have made 11 or more three-pointers in 14 out of their last 17 games.  On the season, Malone has made 274 three-pointers and its average of 11 made three-pointers per outing is the 10th best among Division II men's basketball teams. No other G-MAC team has made more than 220 treys this year.
• Malone leads the conference and ranks 17th in Division II with an average of 17.2 assists per game. Jordan leads the conference and ranks 20th nationally in assists with 5.6 per game
• The Pioneers are the only team in the G-MAC to have three players in the top ten in scoring. Jordan is sixth at 15.3 points per game, Nate Sheppard is seventh at 15.0 and Spotleson is ninth at 13.4. Graves is also averaging 13.8 points per outing, but has not played in enough games to appear in the conference rankings. Spotleson and Sheppard are also both in the top ten in rebounding in the conference as Spotleson pulls down 6.8 boards per game (fourth-most in G-MAC) while Sheppard averages 5.8 (seventh-most)
• Defensively, the Pioneers have allowed the least amount of field goals in the conference this season, and the second lowest field goal percentage.

 

Cedarville Notes - Roster | Schedule | Stats

• The Yellow Jackets are making their fifth straight G-MAC Tournament appearance.  Cedarville won the inaugural G-MAC Tournament in 2013.
• Cedarville notched a 3-4 record in February and closed out the conference portion of their schedule with an eight-point loss to Kentucky Wesleyan and victories over Trevecca Nazarene University and Ohio Valley University
• The Yellow Jackets rank second in the G-MAC in field-goal percentage (46.4%) and third in three-point percentage (35.1%)
• Like Malone, Cedarville likes to fire away from beyond the arc.The Yellow Jackets rank second in the conference with 7.8 made three-pointers per game
• Guard J.C. Faubion ranks third in the G-MAC at 15.9 points per game.  He also averages 5.4 rebounds and ranks third in the conference in both assists (3.9) and steals (1.6).  Faubion is shooting 52.6% from the field (fourth best in the G-MAC) and 34% from deep. He netted 17 points in the first meeting against Malone this year but was held to just two points in the matchup between the two teams at Osborne Hall
• Patrick Bain also averages double digits for CU as he ranks eighth in the league with 13.5 points per outing.  Bain is second in the G-MAC in three-point percentage, having made 42% of his attempts from beyond the arc this year.
• Robert Okoro contributes 8.2 points per outing and pulls down a team-best 5.5 rebounds per contest.  He also ranks third in the conference in field-goal percentage at 53.6%