COLUMBUS, Ohio — The No. 10 ranked Marietta College men's basketball team defeated Capital University by the score of 78-74 Wednesday (Jan. 13) evening in Ohio Athletic Conference action. The Pioneers are now 12-2 overall and 6-1 in the OAC. Capital falls to 8-6 on the season and 4-3 in league play.
Anthony Wallace (Wheeling, W.Va./The Linsly School) was the one Pioneer to reach double figures with 13 points.
Dillon Young (Laurelville, Ohio/Logan Elm) and
Luis Garcia (Miami, Fla./Florida Christian) scored nine points each, while
A.J. Edwards (Twinsburg, Ohio/Twinsburg),
Brennan McKean (Jeromesville, Ohio/Northwestern),
Kyle Dixon (Poland, Ohio/Poland Seminary) and
A.J. Ireland (Carroll, Ohio/Bloom-Carroll) each chipped in with eight points. Edwards grabbed a team-best seven rebounds.
Michael Green led all scorers with 24 points. Mark Minch and A.J. Dixon finished with 17 and 14 points, respectively for the Crusaders. Minch pulled down a game-high nine rebounds.
Capital grabbed the early lead and a jumper from Minch at the 14:32 mark of the first half put the Crusaders in front by three, 12-9. Marietta responded with a 21-3 run, capped by a three-pointer from Ireland with 7:21 left in the half, to go up by 15 points, 30-15.
The Pioneers would push the margin to as many as 20 points and took an 18-point advantage into halftime.
Trailing by 17 with just under 12 minutes left in the game, Capital went on a 10-1 run to cut the deficit to just eight points with 7:04 left on the clock. MC was able to extend the lead back to 13 points only to see the Crusaders answer with an 8-0 run down the stretch to get within two, 76-74, with five seconds remaining.
A layup from Austin Schreck made it a two-point game. Capital was forced to foul on the ensuing possession and Garcia sank both free throws to secure the victory for Marietta.
For the game, Marietta shot 51.0% (26-of-51) from the floor, 44.4% (12-of-27) from three-point range and 77.8% (14-of-18) at the line. The Crusaders were 26-of-52 (50.0%) from the floor, 3-of-14 (21.4%) behind the arc and 19-of-25 (76.0%) at the line.
Capital outrebounded the Pioneers 32-26. Marietta turned the ball over 14 times, while Capital committed 16 turnovers.
Marietta returns home to host Otterbein University on Saturday (Jan. 16). Tip off is set for 3:00 p.m. in Ban Johnson Arena. Fans can follow all the Pioneer teams all year long at
pioneers.marietta.edu. You can also follow the Pioneers on Facebook at
facebook.com/MariettaCollege and @MariettaPioneer on Twitter and Instagram.
