Box Score MARIETTA, Ohio – For the fourth time in the last five games the Marietta College men's basketball team found itself trailing at halftime, and for the fourth time the Pioneers came out victorious. Marietta was able to take a three-point halftime deficit and turn it into a 59-51 victory over Wilmington College Wednesday (Feb. 1) night inside Ban Johnson Arena. [Box Score]

Marietta (14-6, 9-4 OAC) now sits alone in third place in the Ohio Athletic Conference standings trailing league leaders Capital and John Carroll by a single game. Wilmington falls to 10-9 overall and 8-5 in the OAC.

Senior post Kevin Knab (Lakewood/Lakewood) and sophomore guard Tyler Hammond (Cleveland/St. Ignatius) each scored 10 points to lead the Pioneers on the evening. Knab was able to snag eight boards while Hammond dished out two assists with two steals. Junior post #J.J. Martin# scored eight points and grabbed a game-high nine rebounds in the win.

Brandon Candella led Wilmington with a game-high 14 points to go along with six rebounds and three steals. Klarke Ransome added 10 points for the Quakers.

Both teams started off relatively hot from the field, each scoring 17 points through the first 10 minutes of the game. The score remained deadlocked on 17 though for the next five minutes until Wilmington finally broke the drought with a layup to make it 19-17. The Quakers went into halftime leading 27-24.

Wilmington was able to force an uncharacteristic nine Pioneer turnovers on the first half.

The Pioneers, however, committed only four turnovers in the second stanza on its way to out scoring the Quakers 35-24. Wilmington built its largest lead at 40-33 with 13:44 to play in regulation. Marietta responded going on a 10-0 run to lead 43-40 with 9:17 to play.

Marietta would allow only 11 Quaker points over the last 13 minutes as the Pioneers wore down Wilmington en route to their fifth straight victory.

Marietta finished the game shooting 38.8% (19-of-49) from the field, 29.4% (5-of-17) from three-point range and 84.2% (16-of-19) from the free throw line.

Wilmington shot 36.5% (19-of-52) from the field, 18.2% (4-of-22) from behind the arc and 81.8% (9-of-11) from the charity stripe.

Marietta held the edge on the boards 36-29 and outscored the Wilmington bench 28-13.

The Pioneers return to action on Saturday (Feb. 4) afternoon, as it will travel to Ada to face off against Ohio Northern. Tip-off is scheduled for 3 p.m.