Redshirt junior guard Nate Sheppard scored his 1,000th career point on Monday as the Malone University men's basketball team held on to beat Ohio Valley University 78-69 in a Great Midwest Athletic Conference road contest. Sheppard finished the night with a career-high 31 points as the Pioneers improved to 12-6 on the season and 5-5 in conference play.
 
Recap
Coming into the night needing just seven points to reach the prolific scoring mark and perhaps feeling a little nerves, Sheppard missed a pair of free throws and air-balled a three-pointer in the opening minutes before settling down to have the best game of his career.
 
The smooth-shooting lefty got on the board with a jumper at the 16:25 mark and then buried a three on the Pioneers' next possession.  The very next time down, Sheppard was fouled on a three-point shot attempt and sent to the line. He calmly sank his first two freebies to become the 51st player in Malone men's basketball history to reach 1,000 career points.
 
His hot first half continued with another three-pointer later in the frame before classmateTy Jordan got into the act with a trey of his own. Another Sheppard jumper at the 12:42 point in the first half broke a 15-15 deadlock and effectively proved to be the game-winner as Malone led the rest of the way out. By halftime, the Pioneers had opened up a 43-29 lead behind 20 first-half points from Sheppard.
 
The Pioneer advantage swelled to as many as 19 in the second half following a three-pointer from Mitchell Spotleson and a layup from Daylan Haynie that made it 48-29. Malone maintained a double-digit advantage for all of the next dozen minutes and still led 67-53 after a basket from Marcus Ernst with 6:53 remaining.
 
From there, though, Ohio Valley (2-12, 1-7 G-MAC) scored five straight points and eventually whittled the deficit to 71-66 on a pair of free throws with 2:55 remaining. On the Pioneers' next possession, OVU came away with a blocked shot to set up a fastbreak opportunity, but an off target-pass and a missed shot from point-blank range prevented the Fighting Scots from making it a one-score game.
 
Despite missing five free throws over the next two minutes, Malone found a way to keep the Scots at bay. Still holding on to a six-point lead with just 16 seconds to go, Spotleson came away with a steal to set up Sheppard for emphatic dunk that secured the win and put the finishing touches on outstanding individual performance and hard-fought team victory.
 
Game Highlights
-Malone ended the night just 9-of-20 (45.0%) from the free-throw line and 7-of-23 (30.4%) from three. Overall the Pioneers shot 31-of-69 (44.9%) from the field.
-Ohio Valley shot 25-of-63 (39.7%) overall, 8-of-30 (26.7%) from three, and 11-of-13 (84.6%) at the charity stripe.
-The Pioneers held a 47-38 rebounding advantage, including a 12-4 edge in offensive boards that resulted in a 10-5 edge in second-chance points.
-Malone dominated in the paint, outscoring the Scots 36-22.
 
Malone Individual Highlights
-Nate Sheppard finished his monumental night with a career-high 31 points on 13-of-22 shooting as he topped his previous career-high of 28. He also matched a career-high with 10 rebounds to earn his second-career double-double. Sheppard needed just 77 career games to reach the 1,000-point milestone.
-Mitchell Spotleson was the only other Pioneer to reach double-digits in scoring, totaling 14 points along with a season-high 12 rebounds to capture his third double-double of the season. He also handed out a team-high four assists.
-Marcus Ernst provided eight points and nine rebounds in 26 minutes off of the bench.
-Ty Jordan added seven points, six boards, three assists, three steals, and a block
 
Ohio Valley Individual Highlights
-Aleksandar Djordjevic tallied 16 points, eight rebounds, and five assists.
-Christian Alley went for 15 points and five boards.
 
Up Next
Malone, now a winner of three straight, will host Walsh University on Saturday, January 20th in a rivalry showdown at 1:00 pm.