CANTON -- The Malone University men's basketball team played a Great Midwest Athletic Conference (G-MAC) game inside Osborne Hall for the first time this season on Thursday night.

The Pioneers welcomed the Trevecca Nazarene University Trojans to town. 

Malone jumped out to an eleven-point lead in the first half, and then outscored Trevecca in the second half to pick up the 80-67 win. 

MOMENTS THAT MATTERED
Both teams had some offensive struggles early on, but midway through the half the Pioneers started to click. 

Elijah Hinton connected on a three-pointer off of a Justin Miller assist that put MU up 13-9 with 12:08 to play in the half. 

A couple of possessions later Miller came away with a steal. He finished an old-fashioned three-point play on the other end of the floor to put the Pioneers on top 16-9. 

Malone's defense came up with a stop, and then Levi Seiler hit a triple to give MU their first double-digit lead of the night at 19-9. 

All told, the Pioneers held the Trojans scoreless for over six minutes, and the lead grew to as many as eighteen points when Jaret Majestic's three-pointer was good with 7:40 showing on the clock.

Eventually Trevecca responded, and finally broke their drought with a jumper that cut the lead down to 27-11 inside of seven minutes to play in the half. 

Unfortunately for the Pioneers, over those last seven minutes TNU was able to get some stops and find some success on the offensive end of the floor to get themselves back into the game. 

The Trojans got as close as 33-25, but Miller drilled a three-pointer to beat the first half buzzer and send the teams back to the locker room with Malone leading 36-25. 

Early on in the second-half Trevecca made a quick run which cut Malone's lead down to just six points. That proved to be as close as the Trojans would get however. 

In just a handful of possessions the Pioneers had their lead back out to double-digits on another bucket by Miller. 

TNU did their best to slow Malone's pace on offense, but the shots continued to fall for the Pioneers. Back-to-back three point shots by Bryce Butler and Miller pushed MU's advantage out to 51-35 with 12:34 still left to play in the game. 

Trevecca got as close as 53-44 with 10:10 remaining, but it was all Malone over those final ten minutes. 

The Pioneers' lead swelled to twenty points on a Bo Myers corner three-pointer, and MU held off TNU down the stretch to secure the 80-67 win. 


PIONEER POINTS

• Justin Miller finished with a game-high 21 points. He also pulled down 7 rebounds and dished out 5 assists. 
• Bryce Butler recorded his first double-double of the season with 16 points and a team-high 10 rebounds
• Jaret Majestic also finished with 16 points to round out the double-digit scorers for Malone. 

WHAT'S NEXT?
The Pioneers remain at home this weekend. Malone will host Kentucky Wesleyan College on Saturday at 3:00 p.m.