Box Score
Behind a pair of stellar 27-point efforts from guards Che Richardson and Isiah Elliott, the Malone University men's basketball team picked up a hard-fought 90-85 road victory at Tiffin University on Thursday night.  The host Dragons had knocked off the University of Findlay on the Oilers' home court last Saturday to snap Findlay's 81-game home conference winning streak but it was the Pioneers who captured the road win on this night.

With the win, Malone improved to 8-6 overall and to 6-5 in GLIAC play while Tiffin dropped to 6-10 on the season (3-8 GLIAC).

The hosts jumped out to a quick 11-2 lead before Malone found its footing and went on an impressive 24-6 run to post a nine-point lead of its own at 26-17 with 8:38 left in the first half. The Dragons closed the gap by the intermission, though, trailing just 38-35.

In the final stanza, Tiffin continued its steady comeback by posting a six-point lead, its largest of the second half, at 56-50, with 10:57 left to play. Malone would not be denied, though, as the Pioneers battled back to re-capture the lead at 68-66 with just over six minutes remaining on a three-pointer by Richardson.

But Tiffin stayed right with the visitors who still trailed by just two points, at 84-82, with just 22 seconds left in the game. But a pair of Elliott free throws and four charity stripe conversions by Richardson down the stretch sealed the win for Malone. A half court three-pointer at the buzzer by Tiffin made the final score 90-85 in favor of the Pioneers.

Besides their identical team-high 27 points each, Richardson and Elliott posted near mirror-image efforts in a number of statistical categories as well. Richardson, whose point total marked a career high for him (previous high was 24 points in a home loss to Walsh University last season), was 8-for-11 from the field, including a perfect 5-for-5 from three-point range. Richardson was also flawless at the line, hitting all six attempts. Elliott recorded a 7-for-11 performance from the floor (two of three from long range) and, like Richardson, was perfect at the line, converting all 11 of his tries. Both players also yanked down a team-high six rebounds.  In addition, Richardson racked up three steals and a pair of assists while Elliott pocketed a team-best eight assists.

Another Pioneer who continued his impressive shooting effort from Saturday, forward Cory Veldhuizen poured in 17 points on 5-of-7 shooting from the field, including a perfect 3-of-3 stint from three-point land. Velhuizen has connected on 10 of 12 three-point shots in the last two contests, including a 7-for-9 effort in Malone's home win over Ashland University last weekend. In tonight's contest, he also matched Richardson and Elliott's perfection at the line, going 4-for-4, and also grabbed a team-high six rebounds (tying Richardson and Elliott for the honor).

A phenomenal 47-point effort by Tiffin's Joe Graessle was not enough to lift the Dragons to victory as only two other Tiffin players hit twin figures with 10 points each.

While the two teams shot identical 48% percentages from the floor (Malone at 25-of-52 and Tiffin at 34-of-71) and fairly similar three-point percentages (Malone at 11-for-20 for 55% and Tiffin at 8-of-15 for 53%), it was at the free throw line where the Pioneers held the huge advantage. At the charity stripe, Malone netted an impressive 29 of 33 attempts for 88% while Tiffin sank just nine of 16 for 56%. The hosts did hold a slight 36-34 edge in rebounds.

Malone will be back in action again on Saturday night when the squad travels to Ohio Dominican University (3-13, 0-11 GLIAC) for a 1:00 p.m. contest. Live stats, live video and live audio will be available for this contest.