CANTON -- The Malone University men's basketball team played their first home game of the 2021-22 season on Wednesday night. The Pioneers welcomed the Wheeling University Cardinals to Osborne Hall. 

Malone (1-2, 0-0 G-MAC) fell behind early on, but some hot shooting from beyond the three-point line allowed them to carry a 43-41 lead to the halftime locker room. The Pioneers then outscored the Cardinals (1-2, 0-0 MEC) by sixteen points in the second half to come away with the 90-72 win.

MOMENTS THAT MATTERED
The Cardinals scored the game's opening points, and actually built up a double-digit lead over the Pioneers just over five minutes into the game. 

Wheeling led by eleven points on a couple of different occasions, but each time they looked to pull away even further Malone came up with a big shot. 

With the Cardinals up 18-7, Simon Blair responded with a jumper inside the paint. Later, with Wheeling ahead 22-11, Eli Ramsey drilled a three-pointer to make it 22-14. 

Down the stretch in the first half Malone started to answer two-point baskets from the Cardinals with three-pointers on the other end.

A Bo Myers triple made it a one possession game at 32-29 with 5:44 to play in the half. After Wheeling scored on their offensive end, Jaret Majestic connected from long-range to pull the Pioneers to within two points.

The teams continued their back-and-forth pace for the remainder of the half, and ultimately Jaret Majestic was able to beat the first-half buzzer with his fourth three-pointer of the half to put Malone up 43-41 at the break. That was the first lead all night for the Pioneers.

Halftime adjustments by Malone, especially on the defensive end, were evident early on in the second half. The offense picked up right where they left off however, as less than three minutes into half Majestic hit his fifth three-pointer of the night.

By the 13:58 mark the Pioneers had opened up a ten-point lead over the Cardinals.

Wheeling got the deficit back down to four points, and then traded scores with Malone for awhile, but late in the second half the Pioneers started to flex their muscle. 

A layup from Myers put Malone up 73-63 with 4:23 to play, and their lead never dropped below double-digits the rest of the way. 

The defense really grabbed hold of the game down the stretch, limiting Wheeling to just three points inside the final two minutes of play. 

On the other end Bryce Butler scored eight points inside those final two minutes, and the Pioneers came away with a 90-72 win.

PIONEER POINTS

• Bo Myers led all scorers with a game-high 23 points. The junior has yet to score less than 23 points in a single game this season. 
• Helped by his hot shooting from downtown in the first half, Jaret Majestic added 20 points for the Pioneers. He was 6-9 from beyond the three-point arc.
• Bryce Butler made his season debut for Malone and came away with 19 points on 7-15 shooting from the field.
• Justin Miller was on triple-double watch early. He finished the game with 12 points, 6 rebounds, and 8 assists. 

WHAT'S NEXT?
Malone continues the current homestand this weekend. The Pioneers will host Mount Aloysius College on Saturday at 3:00 p.m.