CANTON, Ohio - The Malone University men's basketball team held off a ferocious comeback effort from the Walsh University Cavaliers on Saturday afternoon and pulled off a 76-74 victory. Malone went up by as many as 27 in the first half, but needed a Bryce Butler game-winning lay-up to complete the road win.
 
The Pioneers get to .500 in the 2020-21 season at 5-5 overall and 4-5 in the Great Midwest Athletic Conference (G-MAC). Walsh falls to 7-3, all games in conference play, and have lost two of their last three.
 
MOMENTS THAT MATTERED:
Levi Seiler opened the scoring for Malone with a pair of three-point field goals in the first minute. The Pioneer offense was clicking early in the game and they jumped out to an early advantage for the second consecutive game.
 
Malone rolled to a 17-3 scoring run, where Marcus Ernst scored six and Bryce Butler five. Butler's three to make it 23-7 forced Walsh head coach Jeff Young to take a timeout. Coming out of the break, the Pioneers reeled off five more unanswered points with a driving lay-up from Justin Miller and a corner three from Bo Myers.
 
In the middle of the period, Simon Blair got in on the scoring action with a pair of scoop lay-ups from the freshman. With a 34-13 lead, Justin Miller and Jaret Majestic matched Milan Square's points in the paint with three-point shots to widen the gap. A 7-0 run was capped off with a transition lay-in from Myers and a thunderous tomahawk slam from Justin Miller in the half court. The dunk gave Malone their biggest lead of the game at 44-17.
 
Walsh closed the half on a 13-4 scoring run and the teams entered the half with the score 48-30. The Pioneers shot 20-for-35 (57.1%) in the opening frame and held the Cavaliers to 12-for-30 (40.0%). Even with scoring 48 points as a team, no Pioneer player reached double figures in the first.
 
Out of the halftime break, Caleb Canter recorded a dunk for the Cavaliers to spark a 14-2 onslaught for Walsh. And one's were traded by Darryl Straughter and Justin Miller at the 11-minute mark as Malone continued to cling to a slight 57-48 advantage. Marcus Ernst had an and-one of his own with eight minutes remaining to retain the nine point lead at 64-55.
 
Christian Montague and Darryl Straughter fought hard to score for the Cavaliers and a lay-up from Straughter with less than five minutes left cut the game down to a one possession game for the first time since early in the first.
 
Following the final media timeout, Malone scored six straight with Myers free throws and four points from Butler via a baseline jumper and a lay-up in transition. Down 10 and with their backs against the wall, Walsh began hoisting from deep. Straughter, Square and Montague all connected from downtown in the final two minutes to tie the game with 31 seconds to play.
 
In the final possession of the game, the Pioneers ran the clock down as far as they could before Bryce Butler drove to the basket and put in a lay-up with his left hand to reclaim the lead at 76-74. A desperation three attempt for the Cavaliers was no good as Malone snuck away with the road victory.
 
"I think that was a good win for the team," Pioneer senior Bryce Butler explained. "We never doubted that we could beat Walsh and it was great to beat two good teams consecutively. I feel we are gelling together and figuring out our roles to help the team win games."
 
Head coach Casey Kaufman also commented on the win, saying, "This is a good win for our guys. We did a lot of things well in the first half, and made some gritty plays in the second. We'll need to be better down the stretch in different areas. We will have those things in mind as we get ready for Lake Erie."
 
PIONEER POINTS:

• Despite both halves looking very different from one another, both teams shot the exact same from the field: 29-for-63 (46.0%). Malone was 6-for-12 from beyond the arc in the first, but finished 6-for-14 (42.9%) at the conclusion of the game.
• Despite only getting to the charity stripe once for two attempts in the first, Malone attempted 19 freebees in the second half, making 10 of them.
• Bryce Butler and Bo Myers tied for the team lead in scoring at 17 points. Butler led the team with four assists and Myers in rebounding with 11. It is the first double-digit rebounding effort of the season and the second in the career for the sophomore.
• Marcus Ernst and Justin Miller were additional double digit scorers for the Pioneers. Ernst had 13 points and nine boards and Miller with 12 points on 5-of-8 shooting and six boards.

 
UP NEXT:
Malone has four games next week, starting with Lake Erie on Monday. Tip-off is scheduled for 7:30 pm.