The men’s basketball team faced off against Salem University and Malone University over the last two weekends, losing to both 93-86 and 79-76, respectively.

The team’s record is now at 4-4 overall and 2-4 on the road this season. 

The Pioneers will have a two-game home stand starting this Saturday before the semester ends on Friday.

Point Park faced off against NCAA Division II opponent Salem University to start off break on Nov. 23. 

The men held a lead for most of the first half, but went into the second half down by only three. 

The Pioneers did not see a lead for the rest of the game, bringing the game within a bucket with a little over two minutes to go. They were not able to capitalize though, and ended up falling to Salem by seven. 

Sophomore Sherron Schifino was a bright spot on the stat sheet, scoring 27 points to compliment three rebounds and an assist coming off the bench. 

Point Park dominated the stat sheet again, out-rebounding and outshooting Salem, but gave up almost double the turnovers. 

“Overall, I think we have a team that’s going to compete and play with energy every game,” junior guard Mark Shehady said. “If we’re able to eliminate turnovers and mental errors, I think we can compete with a lot of teams regardless of how much bigger or athletic they are in comparison to us.”

The Pioneers then faced another NCAA Division II team in Malone University on Saturday, Nov. 30. 

Malone scored first and never looked back, never giving up the lead, though Point Park tried to keep it close with three minutes remaining. 

The Pioneers could not close it out and fell to 4-4 overall after starting the season 2-0. 

Point Park outshot Malone, but both sides shot for less than 50% from the field. 

Malone out-rebounded the Pioneers quite handily, and kept the turnovers close to the same. 

Sophomore Kameron Shockley led the team with 16 points and seven rebounds, alongside two assists and two steals. 

“Last week’s loss was still fresh in my mind,” Shockley said. “My team also helped on a lot of my scoring by finding me in the right spots at the right times.”

Even with the team’s .500 record, the Pioneers are still undefeated at home this season. 

The men will look to start off the month of December and River States Conference play by facing off at fellow Pittsburgh school Carlow University on Saturday, then will face off against Salem once again at home next Tuesday.