The Malone University men's basketball team improved to 5-5 in the Great Midwest Athletic Conference and 10-7 overall after defeating Lake Erie College 67-64 in a hard-fought contest Thursday evening in Painesville. The road win marked the second straight for the Pioneers, who have now won four out of five overall and remain a viable threat in the G-MAC standings.
 
Recap
Malone rushed out to a 15-7 lead just five minutes into the first half thanks to a 10-0 run highlighted by a steal and a breakaway two-handed slam dunk by sophomore forward Marcus Ernst. From there, though, Lake Erie (10-7, 5-4 G-MAC) slowed down the Pioneers and fought back with their own 8-0 run which tied it at 15-15.
 
Over the next several minutes, the two teams went back and forth in tightly-contested battle. Lake Erie eventually took a 27-25 lead with 4:09 remaining in the half, but Malone closed out the frame on a 10-2 run to take a 35-29 advantage into halftime. Senior guard Nate Sheppard, who came into the game leading the G-MAC in scoring, accounted for all 10 Pioneer points during the stretch.
 
Sheppard scored five of the first eight Malone points in the second half and his old-fashioned three-point play with 16:04 left gave the Pioneers a 43-36 lead. It would take less than two minutes for Lake Erie to tie it at 43-43, however, before the Storm eventually captured their first lead of the half, 47-46, at the 12:16 mark.
 
The two teams grinded for the next seven minutes before Malone grabbed the lead for good when junior point guard Daylan Haynie sank a pair of free throws with 5:47 remaining to put his team up 53-52.
 
Malone's advantage swelled to as many as eight points with 50 seconds to go as Sheppard buried his biggest shot of the game, a deep three-pointer with the shot clock expiring, to put Malone ahead 65-57.
 
That three-point shot proved to be the difference as the Storm scored seven of the final nine points, but Malone held on for the critical 67-64 conference victory.
 
Game Highlights
-Throughout the game, the score was tied 10 times and the lead switched side on 10 separate occasions.
-Malone shot 33.3% (10-30) in the second half and finished 24-of-60 (40%) for the game overall. The Pioneers were just 6-of-24 (25.0%) from three-point range and 13-of-23 (56.5%) at the line.
-Lake Erie countered with a 28-of-58 (48.3%) effort from the field but shot only 4-of-12 (33.3%) from deep and 4-of-11 (36.4%) at the charity stripe.
-Malone committed five fewer turnovers (15-10) and maintained a 14-8 edge in points off of turnovers, accounting for the difference in the shooting.
-Lake Erie held a 10-2 edge in fastbreak points, a 29-7 lead in bench points, and a 44-32 margin in points in the paint. Of their 29 first-half points, 26 came in the paint.
 
Malone Individual Highlights
-Sheppard finished with a game-high 24 points to go along with five rebounds and a steal.
-Junior guard Bryce Butler finished with 18 points and seven rebounds, including six offensive boards, and two steals.
-Ernst narrowly missed a double-double, finishing with nine points, a game-high 11 rebounds, two blocked shots, and two steals.
-Senior forward Ben Evans contributed seven points and six rebounds, all in the first half.
 
Lake Erie Individual Highlights
-Lamont Rhodes came off the bench to tally a team-high 12 points, nine rebounds, and four blocks.
-Reigning G-MAC Player of the Week Gabe Kynard scored 11 points, but committed five turnovers.
 
Up Next
The Pioneers will be off until next Thursday, January 24th when they return home to host Davis & Elkins at 8:00 pm.