WEST LIBERTY, WV – The Malone University men's basketball team dropped their First Round game of the NCAA DII Tournament on Saturday with a loss to the host West Liberty, 94-89. Casey Kaufman and the #6 Pioneers fought hard the duration of the contest, but could not overcome the full court pressure of the #3 Hilltoppers in the end. Senior Marcus Ernst did a bulk of the scoring with a career-high 33 points.
 
Malone's 2020-21 season comes to a close with a record of 17-7 overall and a 13-6 conference record in a year the Pioneers won their first-ever Great Midwest Athletic Conference (G-MAC) Championship and qualified for the NCAA DII Men's Basketball Championships for the first time in school history. West Liberty advances to the Atlantic Regional Semifinals to face #2 University of Charleston on Sunday. The Mountain East Conference runner-ups hold a record of 16-4 overall this season.
 
MOMENTS THAT MATTERED:
Malone seized an early scoring advantage behind five straight points from Bo Myers. Myers converted on an offensive rebound, made a free throw and sank a jump shot from the elbow before the Hilltoppers could find the scoring column.
 
Simon Blair driving to the rim for a right handed layup gave Malone their largest lead of the game at 7-2. Back-to-back layups from Marcus Ernst and one from Myers kept the Pioneers in front. Justin Miller netted a two-point jumper and Bryce Butler a layup to tie the game at 17 at the 12 minute mark in the first half.
 
Coming out of the timeout, West Liberty scored nine unanswered points and went on a 16-3 run in the next four minutes of action. With just over five minutes remaining in the first half, things looked as if they could get out of hand when the Hilltoppers snatched a 40-24 lead with just over five minutes left.
 
The Pioneers dug deep defensively and held West Liberty to just two points in the duration of the half. Malone stormed all the way back to within one behind a 17-2 run. The Pioneers' first half scoring spurt was attributed to eight points from Ernst, and five from Butler, including a three-point field goal and a stepback jumper as the clock ran out to make it 42-41 West Liberty at the break.
 
Marcus Ernst had a team-high 14 points going into halftime. Bryce Butler and Bo Myers each had nine.
 
After a Hilltopper basket, Jaret Majestic countered with a three-point bucket to tie the game at 44, but West Liberty took the advantage back on their next trip down the floor with a second chance basket.
 
After Majestic's make on the first possession of the second half, it was not until almost eight minutes into the period before the Pioneers got another one. Majestic and Ernst each visited the free throw line for eight points, but by then West Liberty had taken a double-digit lead at 63-52.
 
Ernst hit jumpers in the paint on two straight possessions and scored seven in a row for the Pioneers, but the Hilltoppers extended the lead to 13 just under the halfway point in the second. West Liberty sustained a double-digit advantage until the final minute of play, countering every basket with two of their own. Jaret Majestic, Marcus Ernst and Justin Miller all had buckets in the final minute, but the Hilltoppers made enough shots down the stretch to carry them to a 94-89 win.
 
Ernst had a game-high 33 points, including 19 in the second half. Dalton Bolon was the high scorer for West Liberty with 25 points.
 
"It was a tough night for our team, but I am proud of our guys and how they competed," sixth-year Malone head coach Casey Kaufman said postgame. "That was us all year, we always showed a lot of guts. I'm thankful to everyone that played a role on this ride. Our staff, Ron Miller and Nick Koontz, they don't get any limelight, but those guys are tremendous. They worked their tails off, especially in the month of February when we played 12 games in 24 days to help get our guys prepared in so many different facets."
 
Marcus Ernst had this to say: "I just tried to leave it all out there on the court. I want to thank God and my teammates for an amazing season. I knew I would be guarding the best player on the other team and a key part of breaking the press. My teammates got a lot of great looks and I could not be more proud of our effort as a group. We have such a close group of guys and there's a special sense of loyalty. If one of us makes a mistake, there are four there to pick him up. I never worry about the statline or anything like that, I just try to put our team in the best position to win; whether that's guarding their best player, scoring, passing, rebounding, etc."
 
"Rome wasn't built in a day," Bryce Butler commented on how Malone competed not only tonight, but throughout the year. "We knew that it wasn't going to click in one game, we knew over time that more games that our chemistry would click and we kept building brick-by-brick to get to the point we were at tonight. Tonight showed we have a lot of perseverance with all the runs West Liberty made and we just kept creeping back into the game adding bricks to our wall. Unfortunately, we lost tonight, but we gave it a fight!"
 
"It was great to finally take that next step and rise above all of the COVID-19 issues we faced this season to win a championship and it isn't something we just stepped on the court and did, we put in the work every single day and took the season one day at a time," senior guard Jaret Majestic mentioned. "Experience the national tournament was fun, a lot of good memories were made over the last two weeks alone. Even though it was our first time in the national tournament, we felt like we should have won that game. It stings right now, but eventually we will look back at all our accomplishments from this season and be proud of what we brought to Malone as a group."
 
 
PIONEER POINTS:

• Malone shot 43.3% (29-for-67) from the field and held the highest scoring offense in NCAA DII to just 45.0% (36-for-80).
• The Pioneers worked to get to the free throw line at a high rate, going 23-for-28 (82.1%) from the charity stripe, with 16 second half makes.
• In reaching a new career-mark in scoring, Marcus Ernst put up 33 points on 11-of-15 shooting and 11-of-14 from the free throw line. The senior also pulled down seven rebounds, three on the offensive end.
• Bryce Butler and Bo Myers were Malone's leading rebounders with nine apiece. Butler scored 18 total points and Myers 12.
• Jaret Majestic distributed a team-high five assists.

 
A THANK YOU FROM COACH KAUFMAN:
"Our fans are awesome! Even during COVID-19, I thought Osborne Hall was an advantage for us. Thank you to them for how they traveled tonight and during the conference tournament. Lastly, I want to thank our players. I'm proud of how they stayed the course this season and the way they represented the program. I love our guys and thank you for the time and effort they put in!"