After a busy week for Pioneers men’s basketball, the team landed an improved spot in the American Mideast Conference playoffs.In three games, the men went 2-1, losing to the Walsh Cavaliers but defeating the Roberts Wesleyan Raiders and the Fisher Falcons.  The two wins were enough to get the team in a position where they can finish the season no lower than the third seed in the playoffs.  The game against Walsh was one of the uglier games that the Pioneers (13-10 overall, 6-5 in the AMC) had played all season.The game was out of reach for Point Park before they even had a chance to start.  A quick 14-0 run by Walsh early in the first half put them up by a score of 17-2, and they never looked back.The Pioneer’s defense could not find an answer for Walsh’s senior guard/forward Ron Kinney, who scored 35 points.  Kinney was one of five Cavaliers to score in the double-digits that day.Although the Pioneers out-rebounded Walsh, shooting percentage was the story of the game.  Walsh hit 57.3 percent from the field, while Point Park only made 28.9 percent.Walsh held a comfortable 57-32 lead in the first half, and in the second half they built the lead up to as many as 40 points, winning by a score of 115-78.Albeit a bad loss, it will not hurt Point Park in the standings since Walsh is in its second year of applying to become a National Collegiate Athletic Association Division II program.The Pioneers then faced games on consecutive days over the weekend.  Both of the matchups featured AMC opponents Roberts Wesleyan and Fisher.In the first half the men seemed as if they were not playing to their full potential, they were able to keep within reach of Roberts Wesleyan. They entered the locker room at halftime only down by six points with the score, 45-39.”You probably won’t be able to print this or write it if I gave you my message at halftime.  But it was stern, and [I told them] let’s cut the nonsense and get back to playing basketball, quit the whining,” Head Coach Bob Rager said after the game on Saturday.The second half was wild back and forth action with 11 lead changes.  After a quiet start to the day, T.J. Heatherington was scorching in the second half, scoring 31 of his 36 total points.  T.J. Heatherington continuously drew fouls by racing up the court going hard to the hoop.  He made Roberts Wesleyan pay for putting him at the line by hitting a perfect 21 of 21 free throws in the game.  He leads the team making 84.9 percent of his free throws this season.”I felt better in the second half; the first half was a little sluggish. I think the whole team wasn’t really working right.  The second half felt way better,” T.J. Heatherington said after the game on Saturday.T.J. Heatherington had more free throws than the entire Roberts Wesleyan team.  Roberts Wesleyan only had 15 free throw attempts compared to Point Park’s 45.Robbie Heatherington had 15 points in the game, but with about six minutes left, he appeared to hit his head or neck on the court.  He was taken out of the game at that point, and did not return.  After the game Robbie Heatherington said that he felt alright, and he returned to action in the game on Sunday.Roberts Wesleyan’s senior forward Alif Bland came into the game as the Raiders top scorer.  He had a huge dunk that gave Roberts Wesleyan momentum, leading them to regain the lead.  He attempted to dunk once more while the game was still in reach, but Asa Braxton stuffed him and sent the Pioneers the other way, helping the team to cap-off the 94-85 victory.  Braxton also added 20 points to Point Park’s offensive effort.”We needed that win real bad.  We had a tough loss last game, so we needed this one to boost our confidence, just basically get us back on track,” Braxton said following the game on Saturday.Saturday’s game was Senior Day for the men’s team.  There are four seniors on the team: forward Devon Alexander, guard/forward Jamar Washington, guard/forward Eric Johnson, and forward Dante Anglin.”It was really big to get it on senior day.  It’s back-to-back years now winning on Senior Day, hopefully it’s a tradition that can continue for Point Park,” Anglin said after the game on Saturday.  “But for us as a team it was a big win because this is a game we need in order to try to secure home court advantage.”The next day the Pioneers welcomed Fisher to town and then sent them packing, winning by a score of 98-86.After a slow start in the first few minutes, the Pioneers went on a 26-16 run to end the first half.  Alexander scored the final nine points of the half for Point Park who went into the locker room with a 45-35 lead.The lead was due in large part to the fact that the Pioneers were 6 of 21 from the three-point arc which, coupled with Fisher going 0 for 5 from three-point range, gave Point Park a big advantage.The Pioneers took command of the game coming right out of the gate in the second half, going on a 14-1 run.  The men then cruised for the rest of the way for the 12-point win.Alexander led the team in scoring with 22 points, followed by T.J. Heatherington with 21 points and junior guard Jimmy Taylor who added 16 points.”We had a total team effort,” Alexander said after the game on Sunday.  “It was pivotal that we got both of those games.”For the four seniors on the team, Sunday’s game may have been the last home game of their careers.”If this was the last home game, I want to thank you guys, I want to thank the fans, [and] I just want to thank everybody that let me be a part of this for the last four years,” Alexander said.