Malone Ends #7 Oilers Home Winning Streak
The University of Findlay men's basketball team, ranked seventh in the nation, lost at home for the first time in 71 games as they fell 74-71 to Malone University on Tuesday, November 15.
The Oilers, who had not lost a home game since 2007, fell behind by as many as 11 points in the second half as Malone continually hit shots from all over the floor. Findlay battled back however and took a 71-69 lead with 1:52 to play when senior guard Kyle Caiola connected on a jumper.
The Oilers got the ball back with 1:01 to play, but were unable to capitalize. Malone then got a three pointer from Eric Coblentz to make the score 72-71 with only 33 seconds left.
Down by one, Caiola missed a jumper with two seconds left and Coblentz drilled two free throws to round out the scoring in the game.
The Oilers, who had a 105 game regular season home winning streak heading into the night, shot only 40.3 percent (25-of-62) from the field while the Pioneers connected on 53.7 percent (29-of-54) of their shots.
Malone also drilled 9-of-18 shots from behind the three point line as Coblentz drilled seven triples en route to a game-high 27 points.
Caiola led the Oilers with 19 points on 7-of-17 shooting while junior forward Brad Piehl scored a career-high 16 points in the loss.
Junior forward Jack Smith added 12 points, junior guard Aaron Robinson scored 11 and sophomore forward Greg Kahlig recorded seven points, a career-high nine rebounds and five steals.
The Oilers will be back in action again on Thursday when they travel to West Liberty, West Virginia to face #6 West Liberty State University. The contest is scheduled to begin at 7:30 pm.