The Malone University men's basketball team began another road trip on Thursday night with a non-conference game at Emory & Henry College.
The Pioneers led by as many as eighteen points early on in the game, but after E&H came all the way back in the second-half, the Pioneers needed a late basket to escape with the 68-66 win.
THE ESSENTIALS
- Final Score: Malone University Pioneers 68 - Emory & Henry College Wasps 66
- Records: Malone (3-0, 0-0 G-MAC) | Emory & Henry (1-1, 0-0 SAC)
- Location: Emory, Virginia | King Center
It took several minutes for Malone to settle into the game, as Emory & Henry opened up on an 8-2 run.
Terrance Broughton ended the run with a three-pointer. Back-to-back buckets from Justin Miller and Caleb Conard followed to give the Pioneers their first lead of the night at 9-8.
The two teams traded scores for much of the first half, until a huge run from Malone gave MU some breathing room.
With 9:37 remaining in the half Bo Myers broke an 18-18 tie with a pair of free throws.
The Pioneer defense locked down E&H, and held the Wasps scoreless for the next four minutes.
The strong defensive effort allowed Malone's offense to get going on the other end. The result was a 16-0 MU run to give the Pioneers a 34-18 lead with 5:17 left in the half.
The Wasps ended their scoring drought to make it a 34-20 game, but Malone came right back with a basket by Conard and a slam dunk by Aaron Badibo that gave the Pioneers their largest lead of the night at 38-20.
Unfortunately it was the Wasps who closed the half with a huge run. MU was held scoreless for the final 3:59 of the half which allowed E&H to get back into the game.
By halftime Malone's lead was cut down to just 38-32.
The Pioneers came out of the locker room strong in the second half, and opened up a 46-36 lead by the first media stoppage.
However, the Wasps continued to hang around throughout the entire second-half and stayed within striking distance of the lead.
Late in the game, with just 2:31 left to play, E&H tied the game at 63-63.
After a defensive stop of the Pioneers, the Wasps came back on their offensive end and connected on a three-pointer to take a 66-63 lead with less than two minutes to play.
Two more free throws by Myers cut Malone's deficit down to just a point. Myers then came away with a steal on the defensive end. Levi Seiler scored two of his six points on the next possession to put MU back on top 67-66.
The Pioneer defense came away with another stop, and then Simon Blair put the finishing touches on the 68-66 win by making one of two free throw attempts.
DETAILS
- Justin Miller poured in 20 points on 7-16 shooting from the field to lead all scorers in the game.
- Bo Myers was the only other Malone player in double-digits. He finished with 15.
- Both Myers and Miller pulled down 7 rebounds each.
- The Pioneers came away with 11 total offensive rebounds which led to a 17-8 advantage in second-chance points.
Malone closes out the road trip south on Saturday with a game at Lenoir-Rhyne University on Saturday. Tip-off is set for 2:00 p.m.
Original source can be found here.
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