MARIETTA, Ohio — The No. 9 ranked Marietta College men's basketball team defeated Otterbein University by the score of 95-69 Wednesday (Feb. 18) to earn at least a share of the Ohio Athletic Conference regular season crown. The Pioneers can claim the title outright with a win on Saturday in their regular season finale.

Marietta snapped a two-game skid and sits atop the OAC standings with a 15-2 league record. The Pioneers are 22-2 overall. Otterbein slips to 3-21 on the season and 2-15 in the OAC.

The teams traded small leads throughout most of the first half. Marietta used a 7-0 run to open a six-point lead, 30-24, with 5:24 left in the opening period. The Pioneers increased the margin to nine points before Otterbein hit a pair of free throws in the final seconds of the half to trail by seven, 41-34, at the break.

The Pioneers dominated the second half. Marietta opened with an 8-2 run in the first three minutes and pushed the margin to 20 points, 60-40, by the 14:06 mark. Otterbein got no closer than 15 points the rest of the way.

Sophomore A.J. Edwards (Aurora/Twinsburg) led all scorers with 20 points off the bench for the Pioneers. Edwards hit 9-of-12 shots from the floor, grabbed five rebounds and had four steals.

Marietta's starting frontcourt tandem of Eddy Grenert (Wooster/Triway) and Garrett Stephenson (West Milton/Milton-Union) scored 16 and 13 points, respectively. Grenert pulled down five rebounds and blocked two shots, while Stephenson had three blocks. Senior Andy Dollman (Vienna, W.Va./Parkersburg) chipped in with 11 points and A.J. Davis (Naples, Fla./Palmetto Ridge) had a game-high nine rebounds.

Jake Phillis and Grant Fenner each scored 17 points to lead the Cardinals. Darrell Miller finished with 10 points. Fenner, Miller and Marshall Crum grabbed five rebounds apiece.

For the game, Marietta shot 53.3% (40-of-75) from the floor, 33.3% (10-of-30) from three-point range and 62.5% (5-of-8) at the line. Otterbein was 24-of-54 (44.4%) from the floor, 8-of-14 (57.1%) behind the arc and 13-of-16 (81.3%) at the line.

Marietta outrebounded the Cardinals 39-30. The Pioneers committed just six turnovers, while Otterbein turned the ball over 14 times.

Marietta wraps up the regular season on Saturday (Feb. 21) when Ohio Northern University visits Ban Johnson Arena for a 3:00 p.m. contest. 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