The Pioneers jumped out to a 7-0 lead early in the first half before Findlay made a 7-0 run of their own to tie the game at the 17:01 mark. The Oilers then pushed their lead to nine points at 40-31 at the break before Malone got a hot from long distance in the second period.
After a barrage of three pointers by Malone, the Oilers were clinging to a 79-78 lead with 3:15 remaining in the game. A lay-up by freshman forward Greg Kahlig pushed the lead to three points before the Pioneers got a triple from Eric Coblentz to tie the game with 2:44 left.
Tied at 81-81, junior guard Kyle Caiola connected on a pair from the charity stripe with 2:29 to go. Malone’s Nick Watts then split a couple of free throws before Kahlig split two at the line for Findlay to give the Oilers an 84-82 lead at the 1:45 mark.
Down by two points, Coblentz scored on a lay-up to tie the game before sophomore guard Aaron Robinson hit a fade-away jumper for the Oilers.
Leading 86-84 with 41 seconds to play, senior guard Nathan Hyde came up with a huge steal, which led to two free throws from Caiola. The Pioneers would not go quietly however as Coblentz drilled a 26-foot three pointer to cut the lead to one at 88-87 with 24 ticks remaining in the contest.
Hyde then made four free throws down the stretch to seal the win and preserve the Oilers home court winning streak, which now stands at 94 regular season games. The Oilers have also won 59 straight in Croy counting tournament play.
As a team, the Oilers shot 54.2 percent (32-of-59) from the floor, but hit only 3-of-15 (20%) shots from behind the three point line. In comparison, the Pioneers connected on 49.2 percent (30-of-61) of their shots and 65 percent (13-of-20) of their three point attempts.
In the second half, Malone did most of their damage from three point range, hitting 9-of-13 (69.2%) shots.
The free throw line was the Oilers saving grace as they made 11 more shots than Malone and ended up connecting on 25-of-28 (89.3%) attempts from the charity stripe.
Hyde poured in a season-high 25 points on 9-of-14 shooting to lead the Oilers. He also made all nine of his free throw attempts and chipped in four rebounds, three assists, two steals and a block.
Robinson continued his solid play with 16 points, nine rebounds and five assists while Kahlig scored a career-high 15 points off the bench.
Caiola (12) and sophomore forward Brad Piehl (10) also reached double figures for Findlay in the win.
Coblentz led the Pioneers with 27 points and six assists while Kyle Higgins came off the bench to score 17 points, hitting five triples along the way.
The Oilers will be back in action again on December 2 when they open Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) play on the road at Northwood University. The contest is scheduled to begin at 6 pm in Midland, Michigan.
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