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MARIETTA, Ohio – Marietta College scored the first eight points of the game and never looked back as the Pioneer men's basketball team defeated Piedmont College (Ga.) 79-58 Saturday (Nov. 16) in the championship game of the 43rd annual Marietta Shrine Tournament sponsored by BSN Sports.
The Pioneers (2-0 overall) have won five of the seven Shrine titles in the
Jon VanderWal era. Senior
Tyler Hammond (Cleveland/St. Ignatius) became the 22nd Pioneer to earn the Cliff Rose Most Valuable Player Award. Betty Rose, Cliff's wife, presented Hammond with the MVP award.
Piedmont kept the game close for most of the first half. The Lions trailed by two, 18-16, with 7:31 left in the opening period. But the Pioneers went on a 19-4 run over the next five minutes to push the lead to 17 points, 37-20. Marietta took a 37-21 lead into halftime.
The Lions couldn't get any closer than 12 points, 39-27, in the second half. Marietta pushed the lead to as many as 24 points, 72-48, on a pair of Hammond free throws with 4:08 left in the game.
Hammond finished with 10 points, seven rebounds and six assists. For the tournament he had 21 points, 11 boards and dished out 16 assists. Junior
A.J. Davis (Naples, Fla./Palmetto Ridge) added 11 points. Davis earned all-tournament team honors after scoring 25 points in the two games.
Sophomore post player
Eddy Grenert (Wooster, Ohio/Triway) came off the bench to score 13 points with four rebounds and two blocked shots. Junior
Andy Dollman (Vienna, W.Va./Parkersburg) added nine points, while
Brennan McKean (Jeromesville, Ohio/Northwestern) and
RaNeal Ewing (Westerville/Dublin Scioto) each had eight points.
Alton Honors and Jessie Jenkins represented Piedmont on the all-tournament team. Honors led the Lions with 13 points and Jenkins finished with 10 points and seven rebounds.
Marietta outrebounded Piedmont by one, 47-46, and forced the Lions to turn the ball over 18 times. The Pioneers had eight turnovers.
For the game, the Pioneers hit 28-of-70 (40.0%) from the floor, 4-of-21 (19.0%) behind the arc and 19-of-22 (86.4%) at the free throw line. Piedmont was 18-of-60 (30.0%) from the floor, 8-of-21 (38.1%) from three-point range and 14-of-24 (58.3%) at the line.
Marietta hits the road for its next two games. The Pioneers play at Waynesburg University (Pa.) at 7:00 p.m. on Wednesday and at Denison on Saturday (Nov. 23) at 3:00 p.m.
Fans can follow the Pioneers all season long at
pioneers.marietta.edu. You can also follow the Pioneers on Facebook at
facebook.com/MariettaCollege and @MariettaPioneer on Twitter.
