Canton, Ohio – The Edinboro men's basketball team dropped a 74-68 decision to host Malone Wednesday night in non-conference action.
 
The Scots lead 42-37 at the 18:40 mark of the second half after Malone's Aaron Badibo finished a dunk on the fast break. Bernie Blunt answered with a jumper and Daunte Wilcott scored two more to push the lead to 48-37 with 16:33 to play.
 
The Pioneers trimmed the lead to 54-45 with 10:44 to play, but the Scots six straight led by four from Will Taylor to push the lead to 60-45 with 9:11 to play.
 
Malone hit triples on back-to-back possessions sparking a 10-0 run to cut the lead to 60-55. Blunt hit a pair of free throws to break the drought for the Scots, but the Pioneers scored the next 10 points to take a 67-62 lead with 1:53 to play. Blunt hit a trey to trim the lead to 67-65, but an and-one and good free throw shooting down the stretch lifted Malone to the win.
 
Edinboro came out of the gates fast in the first half jumping out to an 18-6 lead on a 3-pointer from Blunt at the 13:53 mark. Malone battled back with a 13-1 spurt capped by a Caleb Conard layup to knot the score 19-19 with 8:46 to play in the first.
 
The Scots would build the lead back to seven points, 32-25, after an old-school 3-point play from Blunt with 3:08 left in the half. Conard would hit a 3-pointer of his own to cut the lead to 32-28 before Edinboro closed the half on 8-3 spurt to take a 40-31 lead into the half.
 
Blunt led all scorers with 30 points to go with four rebounds, two assists and two steals. JJ Eubank added 15 points while Wilcott chipped in 11 points and a team-high nine rebounds.
 
Simon Blair led the Pioneers with 25 points, six assists and three boards. Conard added 15 pionts and Abibo finished with 11 points and 11 rebounds.
 
The Scots return to action on Saturday when they travel to Tiffin. Tipoff is set for 3 p.m.