Men’s Basketball Records Pair Of Wins At Its McKinley Grand Hotel Classic

     The Malone College men’s basketball team stretched its winning streak to four games over the weekend after tallying two victories at the McKinley Grand Hotel Classic.  Malone opened the home event on Thursday evening with a 76-60 win over Wilberforce University.  On Friday, Wilberforce bounced back to defeat visiting Christendom (VA) College by a 107-51 final.  Malone and Christendom then wrapped up the Classic on Saturday afternoon as the Pioneers rolled to a convincing 101-55 triumph.  With the 2-0 week, Malone’s overall record improved to 9-4 on the season (0-0 AMC North Division).

     In Thursday’s game with Wilberforce, the Bulldogs led by as many as 12 points midway through the first half before the Pioneers fought back into the contest, trimming the deficit to 35-30 at halftime.  Malone then took command of the game early in the second stanza with an impressive 24-3 run that put the hosts on top 67-47 with under eight minutes remaining.  The Pioneers maintained a sizable advantage over the remainder of the contest, outscoring Wilberforce by a 46-25 margin in the second half en route to the 76-60 victory.  The Bulldogs made 15 of 33 (45.5%) first-half field goals but struggled in the second frame, converting on just nine of their 33 (27.3%) attempts.  Malone tied a season-high in turnovers with 22 but the squad dominated the boards with a 54-27 advantage in total rebounds.  Senior Ben Carver (Shelby H.S.) led the way for the Pioneers with 16 points, seven boards, and three steals.  The 6’0” guard surpassed 1000 career points with a driving lay-up midway through the first half, becoming the 43rd player in Malone men’s basketball history to reach the 1000-point plateau.  Senior forward Tyler Renner (Garaway H.S.) also tossed in 16 points in addition to pulling down a game-high 12 rebounds.  Junior guard Andrew Weaver (Hiland H.S.) contributed 13 points, senior center Shane Humphrey (Loudonville H.S.) notched nine points and seven rebounds, and sophomore forward Mark Young (Jackson H.S.) came off the bench to tally 10 points.

     The Pioneers never trailed in Saturday’s contest with Christendom as the squad outscored the Crusaders 22-4 over the final seven minutes of the first half to take a commanding 52-25 lead into the locker room at halftime.  A 12-0 Christendom run early in the second stanza trimmed the deficit to 18 points at 55-37 but that was as close as the visitors would get as Malone pulled away for the 101-55 victory.  The Pioneers connected on over 53% (40-75) of their shot attempts in the game and grabbed a season-high 15 steals.  The Crusaders, meanwhile, hit 19 of their 45 (42.2%) shots from the field but committed 26 turnovers and trailed 36-31 in total rebounds.  Junior guard Zach Fanning (Garaway H.S.) came off the bench to pace the Pioneers with a career-high 18 points and six steals.  Renner also notched 18 points with five rebounds and two blocked shots.  Carver added 17 points, five assists, four boards, and three steals while Humphrey contributed 12 points and five rebounds.

     This week, Malone (9-4, 0-0 AMC North) will travel to The Ohio State University-Marion on Thursday for a 7:00 p.m. contest.

     This week’s opponent: OSU-Marion- Thursday’s game will mark the first ever meeting between the Pioneers and the Scarlet Wave.

     Pioneer Notes: Ben Carver currently leads the team in scoring at 17.0 points per game followed by Tyler Renner at 16.8 and Andrew Weaver at 10.3…Renner paces the squad in rebounding with 7.9 boards per outing followed by Shane Humphrey with 6.2 and Carver with 4.8…Carver is also averaging a team-high 2.9 assists per outing…Renner needs just eight more points to reach 1500 for his Malone career…With five rebounds in Saturday’s win over Christendom, Humphrey moved into the Top 25 on the Pioneers all-time rebounding list and currently ranks 25th with 496 career boards.