The Malone University men's basketball team wrapped up competition at the G-MAC/GLVC Challenge on Saturday at the University of Illinois Springfield with a 74-71 defeat to the University of Southern Indiana.

The narrow loss drops the Pioneers to 0-2 on the season while USI improved to 1-1.

Game Recap
The Screaming Eagles nailed four three-pointers in the early going to jump out to a 15-4 lead in the contest. Malone slowly climbed back into the game, cutting the deficit to four late in the first half before USI drained another three-pointer as the first-half buzzer sounded to take a 30-23 lead into the locker room at halftime.

A barrage of three-pointers helped the Pioneers fight back into game in the second half as a 22-6 Malone scoring run put MU in front 61-57 with less than seven minutes to play.

Southern Indiana tied things up at 68-68 with three minutes to go before Nate Sheppard's sixth three-pointer of the game put Malone on top 71-68.  Unfortunately for the Pioneers, Sheppard's trey with 1:45 to go would turn out ot be Malone's final points of the afternoon as the Screaming Eagles closed out the contest on a 6-0 run to secure the three-point victory.

Game Highlights
-Much like in their season opener on Friday against Illinois Springfield, the Pioneers had a slow offensive start on Saturday but then improved their shooting percentage substantially over the final 20 minutes.  Malone made 30% of its first-half field goals before knocking down over 56% of its second-half shot attempts, including 11 of 21 three-pointers.
-Overall, Malone shot 46% from the field (23 of 50), 43.8% (14 of 32) from long range, but just 44% (11 of 25) from the foul line
-Southern Indiana countered by making 42.4% (25 of 59) of its field goals, 50% (12 of 24) of its treys and 66.7% (12 of 18) of its free throws
-The Screaming Eagles held a 40-31 edge in rebounds, including a 12-6 advantage on the offensive glass
-The 14 made three-pointers were the most for the Pioneers since the squad sank 15 in a lopsided win over Penn State University DuBois last December
 
Malone Individual Highlights
-Sheppard racked up 29 points to go with four rebounds and two assists and was named to the All-Tournament Team for his play during the two-day event. On Saturday, the senior made 10 of 16 field goals and six of 10 three-pointers along with three of five foul shots.  The six three-pointers marked a new single-game career-high for Sheppard
-Jaret Majestic also had an impressive shooting display as he totaled 19 points after making both of his free throws and six of 12 field goals, including five of 10 attempts from beyond the arc
-Ben Evans posted his second straight double-digit scoring performance as he finished with 14 points
-Daylan Haynie racked up 10 assists
-Sehill Mouliom posted five points and a team-high six rebounds
 
Southern Indiana Individual Highlights
-Nate Hansen registered 20 points on six of eight shooting from three-point range. He also grabbed four rebounds and dished out three assists
-Kobe Caldwell tossed in 15 points
-Alex Stein posted 14 points and three assists
 
Up Next:
Malone will host its home opener next Saturday (Nov. 17) at 4:00 p.m. against Kentucky State University