CANTON, Ohio – The Malone University men's basketball team won their first game of the season on Friday night with a dominant 92-74 victory over Clarion University. Malone never let the Golden Eagles take the lead in the game and played their first game this year without a lead change or tense situations late in the contest.
 
Malone moves to 1-4 on the season after their non-conference victory and Clarion begins their year on the wrong foot, stumbling to 0-1 to start the year.
 
MOMENTS THAT MATTERED:
Marcus Ernst started the game with a pair of lay-ups on the first two possessions to jump out to a 4-0 advantage. After Clarion fought back to tie the game up at six, a Pioneer three-point barrage from Bo Myers and Levi Seiler ballooned the lead to nine and Malone was off to the races.
 
Jaret Majestic connected on a three to make the game 20-10 with 15 minutes left and moved up to 56th in Malone's all-time scoring list, passing Phil Hodge. A monster dunk from Ernst finished off a big run leading into the media timeout.
 
Malone carried their hot shooting into the middle stages of the game and took advantage of nine Golden Eagles first half turnovers. Bo Myers recorded a steal that led to a fastbreak dunk on the other end to take a firm advantage.
 
The Pioneers led at the half 55-31. It is the largest scoring half for Malone since Ohio Valley at home last season in a 102-63 win. Offensively, the Pioneers shot 56.4% in the first half at 22-of-39.
 
Majestic, Ernst, Butler and Levi Seiler all scored in the early stages of the second half as Malone continued to pour it on. After only scoring two points in the first, Justin Miller began to heat up, especially from downtown. Miller went on to score a career-high 17 points overall.
 
Back-to-back three's from Miller and another one from Majestic gave Malone their largest lead of the game at 81-45 with 8:44 to go.  
 
Clarion fought tough at the end of the period, and cut the deficit down all the way to 18 as the final buzzer sounded with the Pioneers defeating the Golden Eagles by a final of 92-74.
 
In a high scoring offensive affair, the teams sent a combined nine players into double-figures. Marcus Ernst led Malone with 18 points and 11 rebounds, and Mason Mraz led Clarion in points and rebounds with 14 and eight.
 
PIONEER POINTS:

• Malone shot 48.6% from the floor in Friday's win, 36-for-74 overall and 13-for-30 from deep.
• Reigning Malone Athlete of the Week Marcus Ernst achieved a double-double for the third time in the last four games with 18 points and 11 rebounds. Five of his 11 boards were on the offensive end.
• The leading scorer of the bench in the game was Justin Miller with 17 points and he chipped in seven boards.
• Jaret Majestic (14) and Bo Myers (13) combined for seven three-point makes. Levi Seiler joined them in scoring double-digits with 11.
• Bryce Butler was credited with a game-high seven assists.
• Erwin Gutic picked up his first points on the season with a basket late in the game.

Up Next:
Next on the schedule, Malone takes on Ohio Valley at home on Wednesday, January 20th. It is the first men's and women's doubleheader of the 2020-21 campaign, with the women tipping of at 6 pm before the men at 8 pm.