Urbana Struggles at Line; Pioneers Take Advantage
Malone downs Blue Knights, 88-77, in home opener
URBANA, Ohio (November 13, 2007) – The Urbana men’s basketball team dropped to 0-2 after falling, 88-77, to Malone College in its home opener Tuesday night.

The Pioneers took a 48-33 lead heading into the half. Malone made the first bucket of the second half to take its largest lead of the contest, 50-33. The Blue Knights clawed away at the lead, however and cut it to seven points on a Julian Bernard three-point play, the old-fashioned way, with 6:42 to play in the game. With 4:33 left to play sophomore Mike DeBolt drained a three-pointer to again trim the lead to seven, 74-67.

Urbana tried fouling to get back into the game, but the Pioneers sank 9-of-12 free throws in the final four minutes. Meanwhile, the Blue Knights shot just 11-of-21 from the line for the contest, as the Pioneers outscored them 23-11 at the stripe.

The Blue Knight bench outscored Malone’s, 48-9; DeBolt leading the way with a team-high 18 points on 6-of-12 from downtown. Senior Jo-Jo Peterson chipped in 11 points, and was one rebound shy of a double-double. Senior Allen Drake dominated the boards with a game-high 13 rebounds to go along with his 10 points – his fifth career double-double.

Malone, which was dead-on and shot 58 percent from the field, was led by Ben Carver and Andrew Weaver, who each had 20 points. Tyler Renner added 18 points to go along with 10 rebounds for a double-double. Shane Humphrey also registered a double-double for Malone with his 13 points and 11 rebounds.

Urbana had just nine turnovers to Malone’s 15, many of which were forced by Urbana’s pesky full-court trap. Harold Haynes and Peterson each had three steals. Haynes scored in double figures for the second consecutive game, this time putting up 10 points.

Urbana plays at the Cedarville Classic this Friday and Saturday. The Blue Knights open with NAIA No. 2 Lindsey Wilson on Friday at 6 p.m. and play Trinity Christian on Saturday at 5 p.m.

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