Dragons season ends with 82-75 loss in G-MAC tourney

Ian Lopez led the Dragons with 19 points.
Ian Lopez led the Dragons with 19 points.

Tiffin University (15-14) saw its season come to an end in the G-MAC Quarterfinals, as the Dragons battled back from a big first-half deficit but came up short.

In the first half, the two teams were close for the first 10 minutes, with Malone leading 19-18 with 10:00 left on the clock. Malone used hot shooting to explode for a 29-12 run over the rest of the half, shooting 66 percent to push their lead to 48-30 at halftime.

Tiffin was not about to quit, as it came out of the break on an 11-3 run over the first 4:30 to cut Malone's lead to 10 points.

With Malone still leading 62-52 at the 10:00 mark, TU put together an 8-1 run that brought them all the way back with just a 63-60 deficit with 7:51 left.

Malone held its composure, though, responding with an 8-0 run that pushed their lead back to 11 points. Key free throws down the stretch gave the Pioneers the victory.

Overall Malone finished with 56 percent field goal shooting while Tiffin shot 49 percent. Malone outrebounded Tiffin 33-28. The Pioneers also controlled the paint 48-34. 

Ian Lopez led TU with 19 points while Carius Key had 18 points. Joshua Rivers had a double-double with 10 points and 11 rebounds along with 3 assists. Trent Williams also had 9 points.