CANTON -- The final week of the 2021-22 regular season continued for the Malone University Pioneers on Thursday night. 

The Cedarville University Yellow Jackets were in town for a Great Midwest Athletic Conference (G-MAC) matchup that carried a lot of weight in terms of seeding for next week's Great Midwest Men's Basketball Championship Tournament. 

Unfortunately the Pioneers (17-9, 12-7 G-MAC) fell behind by double-digits midway through the first half, and were never able to recover as the Yellow Jackets (17-10, 12-7 G-MAC) earned a 74-66 win. 

MOMENTS THAT MATTERED
The game was back-and-forth early on, but Cedarville got a layup to go ahead 10-9 at the first media stoppage of the game. 

Unfortunately the Pioneers would never lead again the remainder of the night.

The Yellow Jackets connected on a three-pointer out of the stoppage to make it 13-9. That triple was part of a 16-6 CU run that gave them their first double-digit lead of the game at 26-15.

Malone was staring down nearly a twenty-point deficit late in the opening half until the Pioneers scored the final six points of the period to make it 44-32 in favor of Cedarville at the break. 

A strong Osborne Hall crowd helped give the home team some life in the second half. 

Back-to-back Justin Miller three-pointers sent the crowd into a frenzy, and cut the Jackets lead down to 50-42 with 13:54 still to play in the ballgame. 

Unfortunately, the deficit hovered around eight to ten points for much of the rest of the night. 

Each time that the Pioneers seemed prime to complete their comeback, Cedarville rose to the occasion with a score on their offensive end of the floor. 

A triple from Bo Myers got Malone to within just four points inside of three minutes to play, but the Jackets answered with a three-pointer of their own to make it 65-61. 

In the end, the first-half hole was too much for the Pioneers to overcome and Cedarville secured the 74-66 win.

PIONEER POINTS

• Bo Myers led Malone with 19 points. He was 8-14 from the field
• Marcus Ernst secured his third straight double-double with 18 points and 16 rebounds. 
• Justin Miller was the only other Pioneer in double-digits. He finished with 16 points.

WHAT'S NEXT?
Malone will close out the regular season and celebrate Senior Day on Saturday as they welcome in Ohio Dominican University. Tip-off from Osborne Hall is set for 3:00 p.m.