(CANTON, Ohio) – It was a historic night for the Walsh men's basketball team as it added onto its record-streak in the Mayors' Cup series with a ninth-straight win over Malone 80-68. The win allowed the Cavaliers (14-12, 12-10) to retire the Mayors' Cup a third consecutive time, a first for either team in the 52-year series.

The Cavaliers have now won 32 of the last 35 games against the Pioneers (7-20, 4-18) and lead the Mayors' Cup series 33-19. The win also guarantees the Cavaliers a 12th consecutive winning season.

Walsh jumped out to an early 22-10 lead before Malone surged and closed the half on a 20-10 run. The Pioneers continued that push to take the lead early in the second half on 3-pointer by Mitchell Spotleson that made the score 40-39. He made four in the second half and the final one gave the hosts a 52-47 lead with 10:45 to play, but that was the last time momentum would favor Malone in the game.

Sparked by a triple by Jesse Hardin Jr. (Sr., Warren, Ohio/Harding) and a four-point play where Trey Fletcher (Jr., Ironton, Ohio/Ironton) was fouled on a 3-pointer to regain the lead, the Cavaliers went on a 16-1 run to take a 63-53 lead and control of the ball game.

Malone was forced to play catch-up and foul the Cavaliers for the last two minutes, but Walsh answered the call and made 10-of-11 from the charity stripe during that time. Zac Carter (Jr., Ironton, Ohio/Ironton) was responsible for eight of them and was 9-of-10 from there on the night. He finished with 15 points.

Hardin Jr. led the game with 25 points. He was 9-of-16 and hit five triples. Fletcher tallied 19 points as he was 6-of-10 from the field with a pair of 3-pointers. He was also a rebound shy of a double-double. However, Chall Montgomery (Sr., Cleveland, Ohio/Central Catholic/Navy) did reach that feat with 12 points and 10 rebounds. It was his fourth double-double of the season.

Overall Walsh shot 51 percent, 26-of-51, from the field and out-rebounded the Pioneers 31-26.

The Cavaliers now move on to the GLIAC tournament where they will be the No. 8 seed and travel to No. 1 seed Saginaw Valley State. The rematch with the Cardinals is set for 8 p.m. on Tuesday.