MARIETTA, Ohio – The Marietta College men's basketball team, now ranked No. 4 in the latest D3hoops.com poll, proved to be worthy of its highest rank in school history with a 87-63 victory over the 17th-ranked Wittenberg University Tigers Tuesday (Nov. 29) night inside another packed Ban Johnson Arena. The win puts the Pioneers at a perfect 4-0 on the year while Wittenberg slips to 1-2. [Box Score]

“It was a great game by our guys. I couldn't be prouder of them,” said VanderWal. “We executed the game plan to perfection and played very well on both ends of the floor.”

Junior guard #Scott Kimmey (Olmsted Falls/Olmsted Falls)# led all scorers with 17 points including 5-of-6 from behind the three-point arc. Senior post #Kevin Knab (Lakewood/Lakewood)# scored 12 points, 10 in the first half.

Sophomore guard #Tyler Hammond (Cleveland/St. Ignatius)# chipped in with 11 points and five assists while junior guard #Tyler Worstell (Prospect/Franklin Heights)# recorded a career-high 10 assists. Senior post #Conner Kilpatrick (Bowling Green/Bowling Green)# recorded a game-high eight rebounds to go along with his six points.

Zach Leahy led Wittenberg with 13 points and six rebounds. Ben Sykora added 11 points while Clayton Black scored 10 points with five boards for the Tigers.

The Pioneers raced out to an early 12-5 lead sparked by an alley-oop jam by junior post #Jason Humphrey (Naples, Fla./Barron Collier)# from senior guard #Joe Puch (Brunswick/Brunswick)# just three and half minutes into the game.

The lead would stay around the eight to ten point range for most of the first half until two straight Marietta three-pointers stretched the margin to 17 points at 42-25 with 4:43 left in the half. Wittenberg responded with an 8-0 run to claw its way back into the game at 42-33. Kimmey's third three of the half gave the Pioneers a 45-33 halftime lead.

The issue was never in doubt in the second half as the Marietta lead escalated from the start of the final period. The margin reached 20 points at 59-39 with 14:13 left in regulation and the Pioneers never let up. Marietta led by as many as 29 as went on to cruise to the 87-63 victory.

Marietta finished the game shooting a blistering 52% (31-of-60) from the field, 40% (10-of-25) from three and 79% (15-of-19) from the charity stripe. Wittenberg finished the game shooting 43% (26-of-61) from the field, 30% (7-of-23) from three and 30.8% (4-of-13) from the free throw line. Wittenberg held the edge in rebounding 39-32 but committed 22 turnovers to the Pioneer's 10.

The Pioneers return to action on Saturday (Dec. 3) afternoon as it will open Ohio Athletic Conference play on the road at Baldwin-Wallace. Tip-of is slated for 3 p.m.