Box Score MARIETTA, Ohio – It was a night of upsets in the Ohio Athletic Conference Men's Basketball Tournament semifinals as the top seeds fell Thursday (Feb. 27) evening.
Wilmington College, the No. 3 seed, knocked off second-seeded Marietta College in overtime by the score of 91-82. Top seed Mount Union lost to No. 5 seed John Carroll, 83-81. Wilmington will host JCU in the championship on Saturday.
Junior
Andy Dollman (Vienna, W.Va./Parkersburg) led Marietta (19-7 overall) with a career-high 29 points. Dollman was 10-of-17 from the floor and hit four from behind the arc.
Andy Stegman (Wheelersburg/Wheelersburg) finished with 12 points, while
Brennan McKean (Jeromesville/Northwestern) and
Garrett Stephenson (West Milton/Milton-Union) each had 10 rebounds for the Pioneers.
Despite an off night shooting, senior Malcolm Heard paced the Quakers with 26 points. Heard was only 10-of-23 from the floor, but drained four treys. R.J. Leppert recorded a double-double with 17 points and 10 rebounds. Klarke Ransome and Dwight Johnson each chipped in with 13 points.
Johnson, who had made just 11 three-pointers all season, nailed four against the Pioneers including back-to-back treys in overtime that gave the Quakers a six-point lead, 81-75, with 2:09 left to play.
A year ago when these two teams met in the OAC semifinals it took the Pioneers three overtimes to get the win. Marietta went on to win the OAC championship and advance to the NCAA Tournament. Wilmington ended a 10-game skid against Marietta with the overtime victory.
A back and forth game for the first nine minutes, Wilmington went on a 13-3 run to take a nine-point lead, 28-19, with 7:45 left in the first half. Marietta cut the deficit to one with just over a minute left. A pair of treys, including one at the buzzer from Johnson, gave the Quakers a 41-34 lead at the break.
The second half featured five ties and six lead changes. A three-ball from Dollman gave the Pioneers their biggest lead of the game, 63-58, with 8:49 left in the period. Wilmington answered right back with a pair of three-pointers from Heard to retake the lead.
Dollman sank a three-pointer with 1:21 left to knot the score at 73. Following a missed shot by the Quakers and a Pioneer turnover, Wilmington had the ball with 30 seconds remaining but failed to get a shot off as the clock expired sending the game into overtime.
The extra period was all Wilmington as the Quakers were 3-of-3 from behind the arc and 7-of-7 at the free throw line. Marietta went 2-of-9 from the floor and 1-of-7 from three-point range in overtime as the Quakers outscored the Pioneers 18-9.
Marietta will now wait and see if the NCAA selection committee awards the Pioneers an at-large berth into the NCAA Tournament. 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.
