CANTON, Ohio - Chris Beals hit a 15-foot jumper with 5.2 seconds left to give NAIA Division II #10 Cedarville a 64-62 win at Malone in an American Mideast Conference contest.

The Yellow Jackets appeared to be in trouble when they trailed 49-40 with 10:45 remaining. They rallied to avoid the upset when Derrick Hannon completed a rare four-point play at the 3:55 mark for a 58-56 lead.

Cedarville never fell behind again even though the Pioneers tied the game two more times. Malone even had the ball with the score deadlocked at 62-62, but they committed a traveling violation with 30 seconds to go.

That resulted in Beals' winning shot which came when he sprung free near the left high post. The hosts called timeout with 2.1 seconds on the clock and could only get off a desperation three-pointer at the buzzer.

Hannon and Matt Harner scored 14 points each for the Yellow Jackets, 6-3 overall and 1-1 AMC. Beals had 13 points and Ricardo Alliman chipped in 12.

Despite entering the game as one of the nation's best long-range shooting teams with a 47 percent accuracy on three-pointers, Cedarville labored to a 27-27 halftime tie by making just 1-of-13 bombs. However, they hit 5-of-8 from beyond the arc and shot 56.5 percent overall in the second period. Malone dips to 2-5 and 0-2 AMC. [STATS]