CANTON -- On Monday night, the Malone University men's basketball team hit the court for the first time in the 2022 calendar year. 

The Pioneers welcomed the Tiffin University Dragons to Osborne Hall for a Great Midwest Athletic Conference (G-MAC) matchup.

A late run in the first-half allowed Malone (10-3, 5-1 G-MAC) to take a two-point lead to the locker room at halftime. The Pioneers then ran away from the Dragons (5-6, 1-3 G-MAC) in the second-half to pick up the 100-82 win. 

Dating back to last season, Malone has now won fifteen consecutive games inside of Osborne Hall. 

MOMENTS THAT MATTERED
It was a matchup of the two highest scoring teams in the G-MAC, and it did not disappoint. The Pioneers came in averaging a league-best 84.4 points per game, while the Dragons were second in the G-MAC at 79.2 points per game. 

Malone opened up the scoring with back-to-back baskets by Levi Seiler and Bryce Butler, but Tiffin quickly countered. 

The Dragons scored the next seven points of the game unanswered to grab the lead. 

It was at that point that Bo Myers caught fire. The junior scored the next eight points for Malone. 

By the under-12 minute media timeout Myers already had 13 of the Pioneers' 20 points. 

Tiffin was keeping pace however. At that media stoppage Malone was clinging to a 20-18 lead. 

The two sides continued to trade baskets for most of the first-half, but it was the Dragons who actually held a five-point lead late in the half. 

With Tiffin leading 42-37 inside of the final two minutes Jaret Majestic made good on a three-pointer to get Malone to within two points. 

Justin Miller came away with a steal on the ensuing possession and then found Marcus Ernst on the fastbreak for a dunk that evened up the game at 42-42. 

The Dragons scored on their next trip down the court to retake the lead, but Malone quickly answered with two more points by Ernst. Myers then stole the inbounds pass, and made an incredible shot as the first-half buzzer sounded to send the teams back to their locker rooms with the Pioneers leading 46-44. 

Butler scored a pair of quick baskets to open up the second-half, but Tiffin was still able to keep pace in the early going.

The Dragons were within a possession at 55-52 with 16:23 still to play before the Pioneers started to pull away for good. 

Myers connected on back-to-back triples, and Majestic hit another shot from downtown as well to put Malone up 63-52. 

Butler capped off the 10-0 run with a free throw to make it 64-52 game, and lead never dropped below double-digits the rest of the way. 

Malone led by as many as 20 points on a Majestic three-pointer with 4:02 to play, and ultimately capped off the night with a pair of free throws by Miller that put the finishing touches on the 100-82 win.


PIONEER POINTS

• Bo Myers led all scorers with 31 points. He was 12-19 from the field and 4-9 from distance. The junior also pulled down six rebounds, dished out three assists, and made two steals.
• Jaret Majestic topped the twenty-point mark for the fourth time this season. He finished with 24 points, and tied his season-high with eight three-pointers 
• Bryce Butler (17) and Justin Miller (14) rounded out the double-digit scorers for Malone. Miller dished out eight assists, which improves his G-MAC leading total to 66 on the season.
• Marcus Ernst pulled down 12 rebounds to lead the Pioneers. He has now secured double-digit rebounds in three-straight games. 

WHAT'S NEXT?
The Pioneers are back at home on Thursday night for another G-MAC game. Tip-off from Osborne Hall against the University of Findlay is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.