MIAMI, Fla. — Trailing by one, RaNeal Ewing (Westerville/Dublin Scioto) took the inbounds pass, raced the length of the court and threw down a dunk in the final seconds to give No. 24-ranked Marietta College a 79-78 win over No. 19 Eastern Connecticut State University Tuesday (Dec. 30) afternoon in the Adidas Holiday Slam hosted by the Florida Christian School.

Marietta improves to 11-0 overall for just the second time in program history. The 2010-11 Pioneers started the season 13-0 for the best start in school history. The loss drops Eastern Connecticut to 8-2 on the season and snapped a five-game winning streak for the Warriors.

The Pioneers appeared to have the game under control leading by five points, 77-72, with 1:12 left in the game. But Marietta struggled against Eastern's full court press and the Warriors scored six straight to take a 78-77 lead with 10.5 seconds left on the clock.

Following a Marietta timeout, Ewing delivered the late game heroics to give head coach Jon VanderWal a nice birthday present. Eastern was able to get a last-second shot off but the ball rimmed out as the final buzzer sounded.

Playing in his high school gymnasium, Marietta junior Luis Garcia (Miami, Fla./Florida Christian) led all scorers with 24 points. Garcia drained a career-best six three-pointers. Senior Garrett Stephenson (West Milton/Milton-Union) scored 19 points and grabbed six rebounds.

Senior Andy Dollman (Vienna, W.Va./Parkersburg) chipped in with eight points and five assists, while junior Eddy Grenert (Wooster/Triway) pulled down six boards. Ewing finished with seven points.

Junior Trachone Preston led Eastern Connecticut with 23 points and seven assists to go along with five rebounds. Sophomore Tarchee Brown added 22 points and junior Kevin Leumene had 11 points and seven rebounds.

For the game, Marietta shot 48.3% (29-of-60) from the floor, 42.9% (12-of-28) from three-point range and 75.0% (9-of-12) at the free throw line. Eastern Connecticut was 27-of-62 (43.5%) from the floor, 6-of-19 (31.6%) behind the arc and 18-of-23 (78.3%) at the line.

The Warriors edged Marietta on the boards 32-31. Eastern Connecticut turned the ball over 13 times, while Marietta committed 12 turnovers.

Marietta closes its non-conference schedule Wednesday (Dec. 31) against the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth in the Adidas Holiday Slam. Tipoff is set for 2:00 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 and Instagram.  Tweet #PioNation