January 19, 2008

Pioneers Hang On For 77-73 Victory Over Roberts Wesleyan (NY)

 
The Malone College men’s basketball team cemented a 77-73 win over visiting Roberts Wesleyan (NY) College on Saturday evening by sinking all 10 of its free throws in the final 90 seconds of the game.  The Pioneers led the tightly-contested match-up 33-31 at halftime before the Raiders jumped out to their largest lead of the night at 52-45 midway through the second half.  Malone fought back to take a 58-57 advantage with just over six minutes remaining on the clock and then held off a late Raider surge with its clutch performance from the charity stripe.  The 77-73 triumph gave the Pioneers their first American Mideast Conference North Division victory of the season and improved the squad’s overall record to 13-5 on the year (1-1 AMC North).  Roberts Wesleyan fell to 5-13 overall (0-2 AMC North) following the narrow defeat.
 
Malone made nearly 46% (22-48) of its overall shots from the field in Saturday’s game and connected on 29 of its 38 (76.3%) free throws.  The Raiders, meanwhile, hit 25 of their 68 (36.8%) overall field goal attempts, including 13 of 36 (36.1%) shots from three-point range.  Roberts Wesleyan committed only seven turnovers, but struggled at the free-throw line, converting on just over 50% (10-19) of its attempts.
 
Junior forward Jarrod Ferwerda (Lake H.S.) paced four Pioneers in double figures with a season-high 18 points.  Senior guard Ben Carver (Shelby H.S.) followed with 16 points, five assists, four rebounds, and two steals.  Senior center Shane Humphrey (Loudonville H.S.) added 16 points and five rebounds while senior forward Tyler Renner (Garaway H.S.) posted his fifth double-double of the season with 13 points and 11 boards.
 
This week, Malone (13-5, 1-1 AMC North) will travel to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on Tuesday for a 7:30 p.m. contest with Point Park University (11-8 overall, 1-1 AMC North).  The squad will then head to Houghton (NY) College (6-9 overall, 0-2 AMC North) on Saturday afternoon for a 4:00 p.m. match-up with the Highlanders.
 
This week’s opponent: Point Park- Malone holds a 9-7 lead in the all-time series between the two schools and defeated Point Park 80-67 at home earlier this season (December 8th) during the Hoops 4 Healing Classic. Houghton- The Pioneers have won all seven of their previous meetings with the Highlanders.  The two squads last met on November 18, 2005 at Houghton as Malone posted a 74-71 victory.
 
Pioneer Notes: Tyler Renner paces the team in scoring at 16.5 points per game followed closely by Ben Carver at 16.3 and Shane Humphrey at 11.0…Renner also leads the team in rebounding with 8.3 boards per contest followed by Humphrey with 6.0 and Taurean Dailey with 5.8…Carver is averaging a team-high 2.8 assists per outing…With 11 rebounds in Saturday’s game against Roberts Wesleyan, Renner has now reached 750 career boards, ranking him ninth on the Pioneers’ all-time rebounding list.
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