CANTON, Ohio – The Malone University men's basketball team pulled off their sixth consecutive victory on Thursday night with a 94-75 home win over Lake Erie. The game was basically even throughout the first 32 minutes of play, but a five-minute scoring avalanche allowed the Pioneers to pull away. Malone went on a 23-3 scoring run after the game was tied at 61 to claim a blowout win.
 
With the sixth win in a row, the Pioneers are now 13-6 overall and 12-6 in Great Midwest Athletic Conference (G-MAC) action. Lake Erie is now 4-12 on the season and in conference play.
 
MOMENTS THAT MATTERED:
The Pioneers went on a 10-4 scoring run to start the game, with all 10 points coming inside the paint. Lake Erie responded with a 9-0 scoring spurt of their own to claim a 13-10 lead with 13 minutes remaining in the first.
 
After being down early, Malone responded in a big way with a 13-0 advantage over the next three minutes. Justin Miller converted back-to-back shot attempts and Marcus Ernst with two lay-ups. Bo Myers hit a three and Levi Seiler finished the run with a jump shot to make it 23-13.
 
Jeramie Burge connected on a pair of three-point field goals to keep Lake Erie afloat, and a Kevin Peterson lay-up a few possessions later gave the Storm a 27-26 lead. The margin would be short-lived, however, as Bryce Butler converted a lay-up inside on the next Pioneer possession with five minutes left.
 
Butler scored six points over the final five minutes of the period to give Malone a 36-32 lead at the break. Butler and Miller led the Pioneer scorers with eight apiece.
 
The trio of Butler, Miller and Ernst tried to extend the lead in the second half by scoring 12 of the first 15 Malone points in the frame, however the Storm were trying to keep their playoff hopes alive with a big road win. A Jacob Plantz lay-up with 13 minutes to go cut the Pioneer lead to two at 51-49.
 
After going scoreless in the first, Jaret Majestic knocked down his first three-point shot of the game and that sparked an offensive onslaught for the home team.
 
With the game tied at 61, Marcus Ernst put down an emphatic jam on an offensive rebound tip-in. Following a score on the next Storm possession, Malone rattled off seven three's in eight attempts, including four from Majestic, two from Butler and one from Miller. The run took place all in a matter of five minutes of game time from the eight-minute mark to the three-minute mark.
 
A tie game all of a sudden ballooned to an 84-64 Malone advantage on the 23-3 run. In the closing minutes, Brian Read, Donovan O'Neil and Simon Blair all had baskets to secure the 94-75 victory. O'Neil recorded his first career points in his collegiate career in the win.
 
Bryce Butler was the game's leading scorer with 22 points and Jaret Majestic finished with 16 second half points. Harrison Riggs had 17 points for the Storm and distributed four assists.
 
PIONEER POINTS:

• Malone shot 38-for-66 (57.6%) from the field in the victory and 21-for-31 (67.7%) in the second half. After going 2-for-13 (15.4%) from deep in the first, the Pioneers responded with 9-of-11 (81.8%) makes from three-point land in the second.
• Defensively, Malone held Lake Erie to 28 makes in 70 attempts (40.0%) and converted just 8-of-31 (25.8%) three-point tries.
• Off the bench, Malone outscored Lake Erie 25-16, led by Justin Miller with 16 and Simon Blair with five.
• Miller led the team in rebounding with nine, but five Pioneers had five or more boards, including Levi Seiler with seven, Jaret Majestic with a season-high six, and Marcus Ernst and Bryce Butler each with five.
• Malone assisted on 23-of-36 makes. Justin Miller had six and Marcus Ernst, Jaret Majestic and Bo Myers each dished out four.

 
UP NEXT:
The final game of the regular season for the men's and women's basketball teams is on Saturday, February 27 at 1 and 3 pm against Ohio Dominican at home.