The Malone University men's basketball team travelled to Walsh University on Saturday afternoon and came away with a hard-fought 69-62 victory against the Cavaliers.

The win snapped the Pioneers' 13-game losing streak to their cross-town rival as Malone handed Walsh its first home defeat of the season. 

The Cavaliers slipped to 10-6 overall and 5-3 in the G-MAC with the loss while the Pioneers improved to 9-7 and 4-5 in conference play.
 
Game Recap
Malone charged out to a 12-3 advantage in the opening minutes of the game.  Guard Jaret Majestic, who was making his first career start, accounted for eight of the 12 points in the early going after scoring on a lay-up and then swishing a pair of three-pointers.

Walsh would quickly answer with a 10-2 surge, cutting the Malone lead down to 14-13 nine minutes into the contest.  Despite the counterpunch from the Cavaliers, the visitors did not panic and managed to regain momentum, taking a 32-25 lead to the locker room at halftime.  

Malone would twice expand its advantage to nine in the opening minutes of the second half before Walsh rallied, using a 15-4 run to pull ahead 49-47 midway through the final stanza.   The two teams would trade baskets back and forth over the next few minutes before a Walsh lay-up with a little more than four minutes to play allowed the Cavs to match their largest lead of the afternoon at 59-56.

With his team down three and in dire need of a basket, Majestic came up huge.  The sophomore from Malvern delivered a trey to tie the game up at 59.  Then after a missed Cavalier shot, the red-hot Majestic drained another clutch triple, putting Malone back in front 62-59.

Following another Cavalier miss, a lay-up by guard Daylan Haynie stretched the Malone scoring run out to 8-0 and put the Pioneers on top 64-59 with two and a half minutes to play.

Walsh would get within three on a JT Shumate bucket, but Pioneer guard Bryce Butler had the answer, scoring on a driving lay-up moments later to make the score 66-61 with a minute to go.

The Cavs would split a pair of free throws with 34.7 seconds on the clock to pull within four but would not score again the rest of the way as Malone secured its first win against the Cavaliers since November of 2011.
 
Game Highlights
-Malone hit five of its first six shot attempts while Walsh made just one of its first 10 field goals
-The Cavaliers shot 34% from the field in the first half, but then hit 51.85% (14 of 27) of their second-half field goals to end the game at 42.9% overall
-Malone shot an identical percentage in the second half on Saturday (14 of 27) and finished at 46.4% from the field
-The Pioneers also went eight of 21 (38.1%) from three-point range and nine of 13 (69.2%) at the foul line
-The Cavs, who entered the game as one of the top three-point shooting teams in the conference, were limited to six of 20 (30%) accuracy from long range.  The six made triples were the second-lowest total of the season for Walsh
-Malone held a substantial 36-23 edge in total rebounds
-Both teams took good care of the basketball as Walsh committed just four turnovers while Malone had only seven miscues
 
Malone Individual Highlights
-Majestic racked up a career-high 20 points after matching his previous career-high with six made three-pointers; The sophomore was seven of 12 from the field overall, including six of 11 from beyond the arc.  He also dished out two assists and matched his previous career-high with five rebounds
-Butler followed with 19 points and five rebounds
-Haynie contributed 12 points, four assists, three rebounds and a steal
-Guard Nate Sheppard posted his first double-double of the season with 10 points and a career-high 14 rebounds
-Forward Marcus Ernst added seven boards
 
Walsh Individual Highlights
-Shumate tossed in 22 points and blocked three shots to pace the Cavs
-Forward Sterling Christy registered 16 points and 10 rebounds
 
Up Next:
Malone will travel to Lake Erie College on Thursday evening for a 7:30 pm contest