COLUMBUS, Ohio — Sophomore Kevin Knab (Lakewood, Lakewood) scored 12 of his team-high 19 points during the final 7 minutes to lead the Marietta College men's basketball team to a 79-71 victory over host and 2009 NCAA Tournament qualifier Capital University Sunday (Nov. 29) night in Ohio Athletic Conference (OAC) action at the Capital Center. [Box Score]

Marietta's victory, arguably the biggest in the era of third-year Head Coach Jon VanderWal, snapped a 16-game losing streak in the series. It was the Pioneers' first win over the Crusaders since sweeping the season series in 2000-01. Sunday's win also marked the first time in 11 years that Marietta, who improved to 3-1, starts OAC play with a victory.

Knab, who finished 5-of-6 from the field and 9-of-11 from the line, added a team-best 8 rebounds in the game. Freshman Jacob Owens (Mansfield, Mansfield) and sophomore Joe Puch (Brunswick, Brunswick) both hit 3 three-pointers and added 13 and 11 points, respectively. Sophomore Trevor Halter (Malvern, Malvern) contributed 9 points and 5 boards, while senior Daun Lutes (New Matamoras, Frontier) had 8 points and 5 rebounds in the win.

DJ Frazier led all scorers with 24 points to go along with 8 rebounds. Scott Robertson added 16 points and 8 rebounds, while Adam Johns pitched in with 13 points and Ben McGrath had 10 points and 6 assists in the loss.

Capital (0-2, 0-1 OAC) led the majority of the first half with its advantage growing to 7 points, 27-20, with 6:11 to play in the period. The Crusaders maintained a 6-point lead, 31-25 as the teams entered 4 minutes left in the in half. Marietta, however, ended the half on a 16-6 run to take a 41-37 lead into intermission. Both teams shot well over the first 20 minutes. Marietta hit 14-of-26 (53.8%) from the field, while Capital was 14-of-31 (45.2%) from the floor.

Marietta kept its lead for the first 9 minutes of the second half. Capital, however, regained the advantage midway through the period and led by as many as 5 points before Marietta took control for good on a three-point play by Knab with 7:03 to play in the game. The Pioneers did not relinquish their lead the rest of the way. Knab keyed the stretch by scoring 12 of Marietta's final 20 points in the win.

Capital narrowly out-shot Marietta from the field, connecting on 46.8% (29-of-62) compared to the Pioneers hitting on 45.5% (25-of-55). Marietta did knock down 9-of-22 (40.9%) from long range and 20-of-25 (80.0%) from the charity stripe while out-rebounding Capital 36-34 in the win. Capital hit 4-of-19 (21.1.%) from beyond the arc and 9-of-17 (52.9%) from the line in the loss.

Marietta is back in action on Wednesday (Dec. 2) night when the Pioneers travel to Alliance, Ohio, for a match-up with host Mount Union College. Tip-off is slated for 7:30 p.m. Live statistics will be available at http://livestats.prestosports.com/mountunion/mbkb/basketball.html. In addition, live audio can be heard at http://www2.muc.edu/athletics/broadcasts/broadcast-center.aspx.