MARQUETTE, Mich. – The Northern Michigan men's basketball team dropped an 82-65 decision to Malone Saturday afternoon at the Berry Events Center.

The loss moves the Wildcats to 1-5 with a 0-2 GLIAC record while Malone improved to 3-2 with a 1-1 league mark.

Freshman guard Marcus Hall led NMU with 16 points including going 4-4 from the free throw line. Freshman forward Dorrell Foster and junior forward Justin Newell added 12 points each for the Wildcats. Foster went 8-10 from the free throw line. 

The Wildcats shot 42.2 percent from the floor, connecting on 19-45 shots, including going 10-19 in the second half.

NMU kept the game within reach through most of the first half, but the Pioneers used a 13-4 run in the final 5:27 of the first half to take a 41-23 lead into the locker room at halftime. 

The Wildcats came out in the second half and outscored Malone 42-41 in the half, including connecting on 19-22 free throws (86.4%) but were unable to close the gap further.

"I thought at the start of the game we played with some decent effort, we struggled a little bit on the offensive end," said NMU head coach Bill Sall. "In the second half, I thought there was some progress, we have to keep looking for positives and there were some positive things that happened without question. Saw some good play from a few guys." 

Christian Graves led all players with 22 points; Daniel Wise added 15 and Isiah Elliot had 12 for the Pioneers.

Malone won the battle of the boards outrebounding NMU 36-28 and outscored the Wildcats in the paint 24-20.

Northern Michigan returns to action on Saturday when they travel to Findaly for a GLIAC matchup. Tip off is set for 3 p.m. against the Oilers.