CANTON, Ohio - For the first time in nearly a decade, the Malone University men's basketball team squared off with Wright State University-Lake Campus and the Pioneers came away with an 84-53 victory to remain undefeated at home at 6-0. Overall this season, Malone is 9-2 while Wright State-Lake falls to 2-11.
 
The Lakers hung around longer than the Pioneer coaching staff would have liked, but eventually the opponents ran out of gas and a massive discrepancy in rebounding was too much to overcome for the United State Collegiate Athletic Association (USCAA) members. Malone won the rebounding battle 58-22 and the Pioneers brought down 20 boards on the offensive end alone. Emmanuel Oladeru led the way with 15 rebounds in total. Malone won paint points 42-18 and second chance points 21-2.
 
Oladeru set the tone early with a dunk on the first possession of the game for the Pioneers. Malone led just before the second media timeout 13-5 after a persistent paint presence. A three by Kellen Leake and layup from Jake Bruns gave the Pioneers a double-digit lead with just under eight minutes remaining in the first half, 24-13.
 
An and-one by Josiah Pierre put the home squad up by as many as 13 near the end of the period, but five straight points by Wright State-Lake cut the Malone advantage to 34-26 at the break. The Lakers took advantage of seven first half miscues by the Pioneers to stay within striking distance after 20 minutes of play.
 
The second half was all Malone - the Pioneers won the second half 50-27 en route to the 31-point triumph. The defense was locked in and continued to hound Wright State-Lake and force difficult shot attempts. The Lakers shot 30.9% (17-for-55) in the game, and just 8-of-27 (29.6%) in the second half alone.
 
A dunk by Jacob Ernst and a pair of three's by Nic Williams helped open the floor offensively and extend the gap in the first five minutes of the period. Bruns and Leake continued to pour it on from long range, and once reinforcements arrived at the under-eight media timeout, Nick Wigton joined that party as well. Austin Niekamp had eight points in just eight minutes played, including a basket that gave the team their largest lead of the game up 37 at 80-43. He had a pair of free throws in the closing stages of the game to help secure the 84-53 victory.
 
A balanced scoring effort led by the trio of Leake, Oladeru and Ernst scored 11 apiece. Pierre and Joey DeGeorge were heavy contributors as well with nine points each. Malone was credited with 11 assists, led by Crew Cain with three.
 
After the Christmas break, the Pioneers return to action on Tuesday, December 30 at 3:00 P.M. versus Kent State University at Tuscarawas. That contest will be the opening game of a men's-women's doubleheader inside Osborne Hall.