CANTON, Ohio – The Malone University men's basketball team notched a huge 99-87 victory over the Yellow Jackets of Cedarville on Thursday night. The Pioneers jumped out to an early double digit advantage and never looked back, leading for over 38 minutes in route to a 12-point win.
Malone is beginning to ascend the conference standings and go to 4-5 overall, 3-5 in Great Midwest Athletic Conference (G-MAC) play. Cedarville loses their second consecutive game and falters to 6-4 overall and in the conference.
MOMENTS THAT MATTERED:
Malone threw the first punch with a 16-2 run starting two minutes into the game that gave the Pioneers a 21-9 lead.
Jaret Majestic connected on a pair of three-point shots that sent the limited capacity crowd in Osborne Hall into a frenzy less than seven minutes into the game.
The Pioneers exited a Cedarville timeout and scored five more points off the rip, this time coming from a
Bryce Butler corner three and a lay-up inside by
Marcus Ernst from
Justin Miller. The key for the Pioneers was their ability to match anything the Yellow Jackets brought offensively with one of their own. If Cedarville hit a three from downtown, the next time down the floor, Malone was splashing from deep.
The Yellow Jackets stayed in touch with the Pioneers through getting the ball into the post to Kollin Van Horn and Conner TenHove. Cedarville had 16 paint points in the first half, but Malone countered those two-point baskets with shots from beyond the arc late in the period.
Malone took a 49-37 halftime lead backed by 10-of-20 shooting from three.
Bo Myers,
Jaret Majestic and
Justin Miller each banged home three shots from distance in the first 20 minutes. In a battle of two of the top rebounding teams in the G-MAC, the Pioneers also held a stout 24-14 advantage in rebounding to close the half.
Bo Myers scored the final nine points of the half for Malone on his way to a career-high 25.
Kollin Van Horn answered the offensive onslaught from Myers by scoring the first 10 Yellow Jacket points. Right after,
Bo Myers countered by reeling off seven in a row. The two went back and forth on the offensive end and the Pioneers retained a double-digit lead through the first five minutes. A lay-up from Jacob Drees cut the lead to single digits before
Jaret Majestic rose up for a three to achieve the 1,000 career point mark with 14:52 to play.
Bryce Butler and
Justin Miller put together a 9-0 run at the 10:50 mark to extend the lead to 17 at 72-55, the largest lead of the contest.
Any time the Yellow Jackets looked like they had life, three-point shooting from the Pioneers halted the run.
Jaret Majestic nailed his fifth shot from deep and
Levi Seiler hit a trifecta with four minutes remaining to keep Cedarville at bay 82-66.
The Yellow Jackets knocked home a few three-point shots late in the game, but free throw shooting by Malone sealed the 99-87 win. Kollin Van Horn led all scorers with 26 points on 12-of-15 shooting.
Bo Myers netted a career-high with 25 points.
PIONEER POINTS:
- Malone was 15-of-32 from three, their highest scoring three-point shooting game of the season.
- The Pioneers got to the free throw line 30 times and converted 22 of them, both well above their season high against Kentucky Wesleyan when the team went 15-of-19 from the charity stripe.
- Bryce Butler had 20 points and distributed a career-high nine assists in Thursday's win. As a team, the Pioneers assisted on 22-of-31 field goals.
- Justin Miller's all-around performance was one to behold. The redshirt junior scored 15 points, pulled down eight rebounds and connected on seven assists.
- Jaret Majestic had 15 points, all of them coming from three-point field goals, while Marcus Ernst scored 15 points all in the paint or at the charity stripe.
UP NEXT:
After five consecutive home games, the Pioneers are on the road on Saturday, February 6 against the Walsh University Cavaliers. It is a men's and women's doubleheader, with the women tipping off at 1 pm and the men at 3 pm.
