MARIETTA, Ohio — For the first time in 36 years, the Marietta College men's basketball team can call itself Ohio Athletic Conference champions. The #18 Pioneers clinched the OAC regular season title with a 73-61 victory over visiting Heidelberg University Saturday (Feb. 12) afternoon in front of a standing room only crowd at Ban Johnson Arena. [Box Score]

Marietta, who avenged an 81-77 loss to Heidelberg in the first meeting of the season, has now won five OAC titles: 1935-36, 1953-54, 1954-55, 1974-75 and 2010-11. The Pioneers also set a new school record for wins in a season with 21 and is now 21-2 overall and 14-2 in the OAC. The Student Princes fell to 10-13, 8-8 in the league.

Junior post #Kevin Knab (Lakewood/Lakewood)# scored a game-high 21 points to go along with four rebounds. He converted a three-point play early in the second half to become the 29th Pioneer to score 1,000 career points. Also on that list is teammate #Trevor Halter (Malvern/Malvern)#, who chipped in with 13 points and a game-high nine rebounds. Juniors #Joe Puch (Brunswick/Brunswick)# and #Conner Kilpatrick (Bowling Green/Bowling Green)# both scored 11 points off the bench for Marietta in the win.

Dane Givner led Heidelberg with 17 points while adding a game-high five assists. Clifton Powell added eight points, five rebounds and four assists. Nate Davis had six points, six boards and five blocks in the loss.

Marietta could not get going in the first 20 minutes, as the Student Princes held a usually hot shooting Pioneer squad to 37.6% (11-of-29) from the field in the opening half. Heidelberg led by eight, 35-27, with 2:31 to go before intermission, but Marietta closed the half on an 8-0 run and trailed by only two, 35-33, at halftime.

The Student Princes remained in control for the first five minutes of the second half and led by three, 47-44, with 14:28 to play in the game until Knab converted his 1,000th career points with a layup plus the free throw to tie the game at 47-47. Another three-point play by Kilpatrick helped Marietta build a three-point advantage, 50-47, with 11:16 left on the clock. The Pioneers continued to wear down the Student Prince attack and the lead slowly bubbled to 10, 69-59, with only 1:36 to go regulation. Heidelberg did not get any closer, and Marietta went on to win by 12, 73-61. When the final horn sounded, the Pioneer student section rushed Fenton Court and the 2010-11 OAC Regular Season Champions cut down the net in celebration.

The Pioneers finished the game shooting 36.7% (22-of-60) from the field, 20% (3-of-15) from three-point range and 76.5% (26-of-34) from the free throw line. Heidelberg finished shooting 44.4% (24-of-54) from the field, 40% (6-of-15) from three and 58.3% (7-of-12) from the free throw line. Marietta out rebounded the Heidelberg 44-31 and forced it into 20 turnovers while only committing 13. The Pioneers also held a 32-18 edge in bench scoring and an 18-4 lead in second chance points, which was keyed by 17 offensive rebounds.

The Pioneers will travel to Capital University on Wednesday (Feb. 16) night to try and avenge their only other loss of the season when the tip-off with the Crusaders at 7 p.m.