February 19, 2008

Malone Suffers 81-64 Loss At Notre Dame; Falls Back Into Three-Team Tie Atop AMC North Standings

 
The Malone College men’s basketball team endured a tough 81-64 American Mideast Conference North Division loss at Notre Dame (OH) College on Tuesday night as the host Falcons broke open a close game with a 21-3 run early in the second half. 
 
The Pioneers shot under 35% (9 of 26) from the field in the opening stanza resulting in a 39-30 halftime deficit.  Malone was able to cut the lead to six in the opening minutes of the second half before the Falcons quickly took control with the big scoring barrage that put them in front 66-42 with just over ten minutes to play. The hosts then stretched their advantage to as many as 28 points over the remainder of the second half en route to the convincing 81-64 victory.
 
The 17-point triumph marked Notre Dame’s first ever win over Malone (the Pioneers had claimed victories in each of the five previous meeting between the two schools) and improved the Falcons’ record to 13-14 overall and 6-3 in the AMC North.  The tough loss dropped Malone’s record to 19-8 overall and 6-3 in the division.  See Playoff Picture below.
 
Notre Dame made 43.5% (30 of 69) of its overall shot attempts on Tuesday night, connected on 80% (16 of 20) of its free throws, and held a slim 38-37 advantage on the boards.  The Pioneers, meanwhile, knocked down just 23 of their 55 (41.8%) overall attempts from the field and committed 20 turnovers.
 
Senior forward Tyler Renner (Garaway H.S) was the lone Malone player to reach double figures as he tallied 17 points and 10 rebounds.  Junior forward Jarrod Ferwerda (Lake H.S.) and sophomore center Ted Lawver (CVCA) each posted nine points while senior guard Ben Carver (Shelby H.S.) contributed six points, seven assists, and three rebounds.
 
Jerome Pierce scored a game-high 26 points to go with seven assists for Notre Dame.  Kyle Miller followed with 18 points and Karim McFarlane notched 14 points, 12 rebounds, and two blocks.
 
Playoff Picture: (Corrected 02/21/08) The AMC postseason structure has changed this year with only two automatic bids up for grabs to the NAIA Division II National Tournament (instead of three because the AMC fell below the 16-team minimum this season that the NAIA requires for a conference to receive three automatic bids).  One of the two automatic bids will be awarded on Feb. 26 when the North Division champion visits the South Division Champion.  The loser of this game will then be sent to the six-team AMC Tournament as the automatic #1 seed.  The rest of the AMC Tournament field will consist of finishers 2 and 3 in the North Division as well as finishers 2, 3, and 4 in the South. Those five teams will be seeded by a Seeding Committee.  The AMC Tournament will be contested on Feb. 28, March 1 and 4 with the top two seeds earning first-round byes. The tournament champion earns the second automatic NAIA national tournament bid. 
 
The Pioneers had entered Tuesday’s game in sole possession of first place in the AMC North standings, but the loss at Notre Dame coupled with Damen (NY) College’s victory over Houghton (NY) College on Tuesday evening put Malone, Notre Dame, and Daemen in a first-place tie with identical 6-3 conference records.  Each team has one North Division game remaining on its regular season schedule as Daemen travels to Notre Dame on Saturday at 4:00 p.m. and Malone hosts Houghton on Saturday at 7:30 p.m.  No matter what happens on Saturday, the Pioneers have clinched a spot in the AMC postseason tournament.  Malone can still claim the North Division title (and thus play South Division Champion Walsh University for one of the two automatic bids next Tuesday) if two things happen this Saturday: (1) The Pioneers defeat Houghton AND (2) Point Park (PA) University wins its home contest with Roberts Wesleyan (NY) College (Malone owns the first-place tie-breaker with both Notre Dame and Daemen if Point Park beats Roberts Wesleyan; However, the tiebreaker would go to either Notre Dame or Daemen if Roberts Wesleyan pulls out the road victory).
1.800.521.1146