CANTON, Ohio – The Wayne State University men's basketball team (7-16 overall, 7-13 GLIAC) was unable to overcome a slow start in falling 73-63 at Malone University (7-18 overall, 4-16 GLIAC) Thursday evening.
HOW IT HAPPENEDThe host Pioneers scored 15 of the game's first 18 points as the Warriors made just one field goal in the first five minutes of the contest. A conventional three-point play by junior guard
Clark Bishop (Detroit, Mich. / Renaissance) cut the WSU deficit to nine (15-6) at the 14:33 mark.
Wayne State was unable to get closer than nine the rest of the half as the Warriors shot just 29 percent (10-of-34) from the field in the opening 20 minutes. Meanwhile, Malone made 52 percent (14-of-27) of its shots including 4-of-9 from behind the arc. The Pioneers led 38-25 at intermission despite WSU holding a 21-17 edge in rebounding.
A 6-2 run by Wayne State to start the second half, with all six points coming from sophomore forward
Chuck Key (Detroit, Mich. / Cass Tech), made it a nine-point game (40-31). MU responded with a 12-2 run with both WSU points coming on free throws by sophomore guard
Marcus Moore (Lansing, Mich. / Waverly) to increase its advantage to 19 (52-33) at the 13:10 mark.
The Warriors answered with an 11-0 run with five different players scoring during the stretch.
Sophomore guard
Ronald Booth (Detroit, Mich. / Consortium) twice made field goals after Malone buckets to keep the margin at eight. Following a lay-up by Bishop, Booth sandwiched a pair of baskets around a Pioneer hoop to make it a seven-point contest (61-54) with 6:04 remaining.
After a Malone steal and fast-break lay-up by Jay Parker, Key had back-to-back field goals and made a free throw on the second bucket to complete an old-fashioned three-point play and pull the Warriors within four (63-59) at the 3:03 mark.
Key answered a Mitchell Spotleson triple with a field goal giving him a career-high 19 points.
Malone made 7-of-8 from the foul line in the final two minutes to secure the win.
LEADING THE WARRIORS In addition to Key's team-high 19 points, Booth contributed 13 points and three steals with Bishop adding 11 points. Junior forward
Michael Lewis (Ann Arbor, Mich. / Huron) grabbed a game-high 10 rebounds.
TEAM STATS RECAP The Warriors shot 42 percent in the second half to finish at 36 percent (25-of-70) from the field, compared to 53 percent (26-of-49) for Malone. WSU was just 2-of-15 from beyond the arc, while the Pioneers connected on 41 percent (7-of-17) from three-point range. Wayne State made 11-of-14 (79 percent) from the charity stripe, with MU shooting 74 percent (14-of-19) on its free throw attempts.
Wayne State had a 42-31 rebounding edge, plus a 25-17 margin in bench points.
LEADING THE OPPOSITION Brian Stone led Malone with a game-high 21 points, along with a team-best six rebounds.
UP NEXT Wayne State will play host to Walsh University at 3 p.m. on Saturday at the Matthaei. The contest will air live on Comcast CN 900.
