MARIETTA, Ohio – Senior post #Kevin Knab (Lakewood/Lakewood)# scored 20 points to lead the No. 6 ranked Marietta College men's basketball team to an 85-74 win over Kenyon College Sunday (Nov. 20) afternoon in the final game of the 41st annual Marietta Shrine Tournament. [Box Score]

“The difference in the game today was our second group,” said Pioneer head coach Jon VanderWal. “Our starting five came out a little sluggish and at one point our second group had something like 40 of our 51 points.”

Knab's 20-point, eight rebound performance coupled with his 17 points in Friday's win over Methodist was good enough to earn him Most Valuable Player honors for the second straight year.

“As the game went on Kevin ended up wearing them down,” said VanderWal. “They got into foul trouble so we were able to go down low into the post to Kevin.”

Joining Knab on the all-tournament team were fellow Pioneer teammates #Scott Kimmey (Olmsted Falls/Olmsted Falls)# and #J.J. Martin (Huntington, W.Va./Huntington)#. Martin scored 15 points in the Kenyon win while Kimmey added five. Freshman guard #Brennan McKean (Jeromesville, Ohio/Northwestern)# scored a career-high 15 points for the Pioneers (3-0) while senior post #Conner Kilpatrick (Bowling Green/Bowling Green)# chipped in with 12 points and five boards.

“We had a bunch of different guys step up tonight,” said VanderWal. “J.J. Martin (Huntington, W.Va./Huntington) had a great game off the bench and freshman Brennan McKean (Jeromesville, Ohio/Northwestern) knocked down some shots.”

Kenyon (2-1) was led by all-tournament selection Ikenna Nwadibia with a game-high 24 points and nine rebounds. Fellow all-tournament selection Julian Pavlin scored eight for the Lords.

Methodist University's James Whitehead was the final member of the all-tournament team.

Kenyon was able to control the pace of play during most of the first half, holding the lead until 4:40 was left to play before halftime. A Kimmey fast break dunk followed by a Martin layup gave the Pioneers the lead 32-30 with 3:08 in the first half. Marietta led by six, 41-35 at the break.

Kenyon would get as close as two points in the second half, but Marietta was up to the task each time the Lords threatened to upset the Pioneers. The Marietta lead got as high as 22 points as the Pioneers would cruise down the stretch for 85-74 win.

Marietta finished the game shooting 51.4% (36-of-70) from the field, 42.9% (9-of-21) from behind the arc and 80% (4-of-5) from the charity stripe. Kenyon finished the game shooting 45.2% (28-of-62) from the field, 50% (8-of-16) from three and 76.9% (10-of-13) from the free throw line. Marietta held the edge in rebounding 36-34 and committed nine turnovers to Kenyon's 14.

Marietta is back in action on Tuesday, November 29th when Wittenberg comes to Ban Johnson Arena for a 7:30 p.m. tip-off.