The Malone College men’s basketball team moved into a tie for first place in the American Mideast Conference North Division standings on Saturday night with a 67-65 come-from-behind win at home against Notre Dame (OH) College.

     The visiting Falcons led 35-24 at halftime and pushed their advantage to 49-37 in the opening moments of the second stanza before the Pioneers fought back, outscoring Notre Dame 23-7 over the next ten minutes to take a 60-56 lead with just over five minutes to play.  The Falcons quickly responded with a 9-2 run that put them back in front 65-62.  Notre Dame’s late second-half scoring spurt was capped off by guard Jerome Pierce’s seventh three-point field goal of the night but unfortunately for the Falcons, this basket at the 3:49 mark of the second half would turn out to be their final points of the evening. 

     Malone senior forward Tyler Renner (Garaway H.S.) answered Pierce’s trey on the Pioneers’ next trip down the floor with a three-pointer of his own that knotted the game at 65-65.  Following a missed Notre Dame three-pointer, senior center Shane Humphrey (Loudonville H.S.) added a lay-up to put the hosts on top 67-65 with 2:33 remaining.  The Malone defense then locked down to hold the Falcons scoreless over their final three possessions. Pierce, who poured in a game-high 31 points on the night, got off a pair of shots in the final ten seconds but neither of his game-tying attempts would fall as Malone held on for the thrilling 67-65 triumph.

     With a victory in their only contest of the week, the Pioneers extended their current winning streak to four games and improved their record to 16-5 overall and 4-1 in the AMC North Division.  Malone has won 11 out of its last 12 games and is now tied with Daemen (NY) College for first place in the divisional standings (the Wildcats are currently 3-1 in the division, but defeated the Pioneers earlier this year in the first of their two regular-season meetings).  The loss snapped Notre Dame’s five-game winning streak and dropped the Falcons’ record to 10-12 overall and 3-1 in the division.

     Malone connected on 22 of its 49 (44.9%) shots from the field on the night, including 13 of 24 (54.2%) attempts in the second half.  Notre Dame converted on 57.7% (15 of 26) of its field goal attempts in the opening frame but struggled in the second half as the visitors were outscored 43-30 and made only eight of their 23 (34.8%) shot attempts.  The Pioneers out-rebounded the Falcons 19-10 in the final stanza and ended the night with a 29-27 advantage in total rebounds.

     Senior guard Ben Carver (Shelby H.S.) posted 17 points, four rebounds and three assists for Malone.  Renner followed with 14 points and a team-high eight boards while junior forward Jarrod Ferwerda (Lake H.S.) tossed in ten points.

Pierce tallied four rebounds and three steals to go with his 31 points for Notre Dame.  Karim McFarlane followed with eight points, 11 rebounds and two blocks.

     This week, NAIA Division II #23 Malone (16-5 overall, 4-1 AMC North) will travel across town to face local rival Walsh University (18-3 overall, 7-1 AMC South) on Thursday night at 8:00 p.m. in the 44th annual Mayors’ Cup game.  The squad will then host Point Park (PA) University (12-10 overall, 2-3 AMC North) on Saturday evening with tip-off slated for 7:30 p.m.

     This week’s opponents: Walsh- The Cavaliers are currently ranked 5th in the NAIA Division II men’s basketball Top 25 national poll and hold a 56-39 advantage in the all-time series with Malone.  Walsh defeated the Pioneers earlier this season by a final score of 70-56 (at Malone) and has won 16 out of the last 18 overall meetings between the two schools.  In the Mayors’ Cup series, the Cavaliers lead 24-19 although the Pioneers won last year’s Mayors’ Cup (at Malone) 79-72. Walsh had won seven straight Mayors’ Cup games prior to Malone’s seven-point victory last season.  Walsh has retired the Cup four times (i.e. winning three straight Mayors’ Cup games) while Malone has retired the Cup three times.  Point Park- Malone leads the all-time series 10-7 and has defeated Point Park twice so far this season.  Malone won 99-87 (at Point Park) on January 22nd and 80-67 (at Malone) on December 8th during the Hoops 4 Healing Classic.

     Pioneer Notes: Ben Carver paces the team in scoring at 16.6 points per game followed by Tyler Renner at 16.2 and Shane Humphrey at 11.1…Renner leads the team in rebounding with 8.6 boards per outing followed by Humphrey at 5.6 and Carver at 4.8…Carver is also averaging a team-high 2.9 assists per contest…With eight boards on Saturday, Renner moved into sole possession of seventh place on the Pioneers’ all-time rebounding list with 781 career rebounds…Humphrey needs 49 more points to reach 1000 for his Malone career.

Women’s Basketball Splits Pair Of AMC North Division Contests