The Malone University men's basketball team suffered an 87-74 defeat to Ohio Dominican University on Thursday night in the quarterfinal round of the Great Midwest Athletic Conference Postseason Tournament.

The Panthers jumped out to an early 15-2 lead at the University of Findlay's Croy Gymnasium and then went on to open up a 49-34 advantage at halftime after knocking down 10 of 14 three-pointers over the first 20 minutes.

Malone remained resilient and used a 16-5 scoring run at the start of the second period to trim the ODU lead down to 54-50 with a little more than 14 minutes to play.  Seniors Ty Jordan and Mitchell Spotleson fueled the comeback as each accounted for seven points during the Malone surge.

A pair of Ohio Dominican buckets pushed the Panther advantage back to eight near the midway point of the second half.  After exchanging baskets over the next few possessions, Jordan made it 60-57 on a three-pointer with a little less than 10 minutes to go. 

A three-pointer by Sam Hickey at the 6:27 mark pushed the Panther lead out to nine at 67-58.  Malone would get within three points once more on a Jordan free throw with a little more than three minutes to play.  However, the 69-66 margin was as close as the Pioneers would get.

Ohio Dominican outscored Malone 15-4 over the next two minutes to put the contest out of reach.

The Pioneers, the tournament's No. 4 seed, fell to 19-10 overall with the loss while the fifth-seeded Panthers improved to 18-10 following their sixth straight victory.  Ohio Dominican will now move on to Friday's semifinal round where they will face Findlay, the tournament's host and No. 1 seed.
 
Game Highlights
-The Panthers shot 67.1% (19 of 28) from the field in the first half and hit six of their first seven attempts from beyond the arc
-ODU cooled some in the second half, but still ended the game having converted on 13 of 22 (59.1%) three-pointers and 59.6% (31 of 52) of its overall shot attempts
-Malone countered by making 40% (26 of 65) of its field goals and 32.3% (10 of 31) of its treys
-Both teams struggled somewhat at the foul line as Malone made 12 of 19 (63.2%) free throws while the Panthers were 12 of 21 (57.1%) at the stripe
-The Pioneers held a 36-33 edge in total rebounds and a 16-5 advantage on the offensive glass.  Malone scored a total of 31 second-chance points on the evening
-The Panthers got a big boost from their reserves on Thursday with 46 points off the bench compared to 15 bench points for Malone
 
Malone Individual Highlights
-In what was likely his final contest for the Pioneers, Jordan tossed in a game-high 29 points and, in the process, become the 52nd player in Malone men's basketball history to surpass 1,000 career points.  In just two seasons at Malone, Jordan racked up 1,005 points, registering an impressive average of 17.9 points over 56 career games in a Pioneer uniform.
-Spotleson also had a strong showing on Thursday as he notched 17 points and 10 rebounds for his fourth double-double of the season.  The senior, who started every single game over his outstanding four-year career, moved into the Top 30 on the Pioneers' all-time scoring list on Thursday, now at 1,274 career points.  Spotleson is also now 12th on Malone's all-time rebounding list with 731 career boards
-Senior Djuro Pantos added 10 points and five rebounds for Malone after converting on five of his nine shot attempts
-Freshman Jaret Majestic tallied 11 points off the bench after hitting three of six attempts from long range

Ohio Dominican Individual Highlights
-Hickey provided a huge lift off the bench for the Panthers, hitting four of seven treys and finishing with a team-high 20 points
-Forward Hasan Varence tallied 18 points and 11 rebounds
-Ronnie Williams contributed 13 points