MARIETTA, Ohio — The Marietta College men's basketball team once again found itself in a dogfight within the highly competitive Ohio Athletic Conference (OAC) Wednesday (Feb. 3) night. Capital, however, avenged its November loss to the Pioneers by defeating Marietta 74-69 on Fenton Court. The loss dropped the Pioneers' record to 8-12 overall and 4-9 in the OAC. Capital improved to 12-8 overall and 7-6 in the OAC. [Box Score]

Both teams came out of the gate firing in game that featured 11 ties and 10 lead changes. The Pioneers led through out most of the first half before the Crusaders regained the lead, 22-21, with 8:10 to go before halftime. The Crusaders built the lead to five, 29-24, with 5:43 to go in the half but the Pioneers closed the first stanza on a 11-4 run to lead 35-33 at intermission.

Capital responded out of the locker room by canning two three-point field goals in the first 30 seconds of the second half to take back the lead 39-35. The Crusaders held on to the lead for much of the second half, but Marietta would not let it get above five points. Marietta regained the lead twice in the half, each time by a point, only to have it answered by a Crusader field goal.  Marietta had one last chance to tie the affair as the Pioneers had possession with 25 seconds on the clock, down three, 72-69. Crusader guard DJ Frazier block a three-point shot from freshman Jacob Owens (Mansfield, Mansfield) with 10 seconds left and Pioneer foul on the rebound sealed the Crusaders 74-69 victory.

Trevor Halter (Malvern, Malvern) led all scorers with 24 points while collecting four rebounds in the loss. Sophomore forward Kevin Knab (Lakewood, Lakewood), who was side-lined most of the game with foul trouble, still managed to pour in 14 points and grab five rebounds. Sophomore guard Joe Puch (Brunswick, Brunswick) added 10 points and a team-high six rebounds in the loss.

Capital was led by Frazier with 15 points and a game-high nine rebounds. Tyler Munro, Anthony Bell and Adam Jones all scored 12 points in the Crusader win.

Marietta finished the game 19-of-48 (39.6%) from the field, 6-of-15 (40.0%) from the three-point arc and 25-of-34 (73.5%) from the free throw line. Capital finished 30-of-64 (46.9%) from the field, 4-of-14 (28.6%) from three and 10-of-18 (55.6%) from the free throw line. The Pioneers out rebounded the Crusaders 39-33 but committed 17 turnovers while Capital only turned the ball over nine times.

Marietta returns to action on Saturday (Feb. 6) afternoon when the play host to Heidelberg University in a Winter Weekend doubleheader at Ban Johnson Arena. The women tip-off at 1 p.m. and the men follow at 3 p.m.