MARIETTA, Ohio – Senior post #
J.J. Martin (Huntington, W.Va./Huntington)# recorded a career-high 29 points for the Marietta College men's basketball team, as the Pioneers took a one-point halftime deficit and turned into a 89-66 drubbing of the visiting Denison University Big Red Wednesday (Dec. 5) night inside Ban Johnson Arena.
Martin connected on 11 of his 16 field goal attempts for Marietta (4-2) while also snagging six rebounds in the win. Sophomore big man #
Garrett Stephenson (West Milton/Milton-Union)# scored 14 points along with two boards while fellow classmate #
Matt Napier (Powell/Olentangy Liberty)# recorded his first career double-double with 13 points and a game-high 11 rebounds.
Dimonde Hale led the Big Red (3-4) with 13 points to go along with three rebounds. Bret Woolard added 11 points with four rebounds in the loss.
Denison controlled much of the first half with some early hot shooting by the Big Red guards. The Big Red lead reached 10 points at 24-14 with 10:34 remaining in the first half, causing Pioneer boss
Jon VanderWal to call a timeout to try and fire up his team.
Marietta responded by chipping away at the Big Red lead for the rest of the half, and took its first lead of the ball game at 33-32 after Martin sank one of his two three-pointers on the night. Denison would not go down easily however as the Big Red were able to head into halftime leading 38-37.
The first five plus minutes of the second half were nip and tuck as both teams traded single digit leads. Denison held a slim 53-51 lead with 14:26 left to play in regulation.
Matt Napier (Powell/Olentangy Liberty) hit a seldom shot three to cap a 27-5 Pioneer run over the next 10 minutes of play, giving Marietta a commanding 78-60 lead with 4:51 remaining in regulation. The Pioneers went on to cruise down the stretch winning 89-66.
Marietta finished the game shooting 56.9% (37-of-65) from the field, 33.3% (7-of-21) from downtown and 100% (8-of-8) from the free throw line. The Big Red finished the game shooting 44.4% (24-of-54) from the field, 31.8% (7-of-22) from behind the arc and 57.9% (11-of-19) from the charity stripe.
The Pioneers held a dominant edge on the glass 38-25 and committed only seven turnovers to the Big Red's eight.
The Pioneers return to Ohio Athletic Conference play on Saturday (Dec. 8) as they travel to Wilmington College for a 3:00 p.m. tip-off. 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.
