SPRINGFIELD, Ohio - The Marietta College men's basketball team fell to regional rival Wittenberg University by the score of 73-63 on the road Wednesday (Nov. 28) night. Marietta falls to 2-2 overall on the year while Wittenberg improves to 4-0.
Senior post #
J.J. Martin (Huntington, W.Va./Huntington)# led all scorers with a career-high 21 points while collecting a team-best six rebounds. Junior guard #
Tyler Hammond (Cleveland/St. Ignatius)# added 10 points with two assists while senior guard #
Tyler Worstell (Prospect/Franklin Heights)# scored nine for Marietta. Sophomores #
Brennan McKean (Jeromesville, Ohio/Northwestern)# and #
Garrett Stephenson (West Milton/Milton-Union)# each added eight points in the loss.
The Tigers were led by Scott Masin with 17 points and 10 boards. Sam Collins scored 16 points while grabbing seven boards. Zack Leahy scored 12 points and dished out three assists while Steven Newell added 10 points for the Tigers.
Wittenberg started the game with a 13-5 run which called for an early Marietta timeout. The Pioneers responded with an 8-0 run to tie the score at 13-13 with 12:54 left in the first half.
Wittenberg fought back to push the lead to 11 points, 31-20, with 6:31 to go before halftime. The Pioneers clawed back again and after two Martin free throws found them trailing by just three, 36-33 at recess.
The Tigers regained the upper hand through the first 11 minutes of the second half, outscoring Marietta 27-13 over that period and led 63-46 with 8:41 to go in regulation.
The Pioneers did not go down quietly however as they cut the lead down to six off a Martin jumper at 65-59 with 2:03 to play in regulation. Having to foul down the stretch allowed the Tigers to push the lead back above double digits, giving Wittenberg the 73-63 victory.
Marietta was held to shooting 37.5% (24-of-64) from the field, 25.9% (7-of-27) from three-point range and 80% (8-10) from the charity stripe. Wittenberg finished the contest shooting 58.7% (27-of-46) from the field, 37.5% (6-of-16) from three and 68.4% (13-of-19) from the free throw line.
The Tigers outrebounded the Pioneers 34-30 but lost the turnover battle committing 12 to Marietta's seven.
The Pioneers return home on Saturday (Dec. 1) afternoon and will open Ohio Athletic Conference play as they will host Otterbein University. Tip-off is slated for 3:00 p.m. Fans can catch the action live at
pioneers.marietta.edu. You can also follow the Pioneers on Facebook at
facebook.com/MariettaCollege and @MariettaPioneer on Twitter.
