MARIETTA, Ohio — Ohio Northern University's last second shot was off the mark as No. 10-ranked Marietta College held on for a 72-71 victory Saturday (Jan. 9) afternoon in Ban Johnson Arena. The Pioneers improve to 11-2 overall and 5-1 in the Ohio Athletic Conference. Ohio Northern slips to 5-8 overall and 2-4 in the OAC.
Junior post player
A.J. Edwards (Twinsburg, Ohio/Twinsburg) notched a double-double with 16 points and 11 rebounds to pace the Pioneers.
Dillon Young (Laurelville, Ohio/Logan Elm) chipped in with 14 points and had five steals, while
Kyle Dixon (Poland, Ohio/Poland Seminary) finished with a career-best 11 points off the bench.
Eddy Grenert (Wooster, Ohio/Triway) hit a pair of early three-pointers and finished with nine points and seven boards.
Brennan McKean (Jeromesville, Ohio/Northwestern) had eight points and
Luis Garcia (Miami, Fla./Florida Christian) grabbed seven rebounds.
ONU's Aron Thress led all scorers with 25 points connecting on 10-of-18 shots from the floor. He had a team-high nine rebounds and blocked two shots. Travis Feitshans chipped in with 11 points, while Konnor Baker had seven boards.
The first half was a back and forth affair as neither team led by more than six points. The first 20 minutes featured three ties and nine lead changes. Edwards scored on a layup as time wound down sending both teams to the locker room tied 31-31 at halftime.
Garcia opened the second half with a layup to put MC in front. The Pioneers would lead for the remainder of the game but could not shake the Polar Bears.
A monster dunk and free throw from Edwards put Marietta in front by eight, 56-48, with 10:31 left in the game. The lead would increase to 12 two minutes later as the Pioneers appeared to be in complete control.
Ohio Northern answered with a 17-8 run to cut the deficit to three points, 70-67, with just over three minutes left on the clock. The Polar Bears hit three shots from behind the arc during the run as Marietta went ice cold from long range sinking just 1-of-11 in the second half.
Two free throws from Young and a jumper from Thress made it 72-69 at the 2:06 mark. Neither team scored for over a minute until Devon Allen sank a jumper in the paint for the Polar Bears. Allen was fouled on the play and went to the line with a chance to tie the game with 1:01 remaining.
Allen missed the free throw and the Pioneers grabbed the rebound. Marietta, leading 72-71, worked the shot clock down to single digits before misfiring on a three-pointer. Edwards hit the offensive glass giving MC a fresh shot clock.
Following a timeout, Marietta again worked the clock and took a mid-range jumper as the shot clock went off. The Pioneer attempt was no good giving Ohio Northern the ball with three seconds left in the game. The Polar Bears pushed the ball past half court and called a timeout with 1.2 seconds left on the clock to set up a final play. ONU inbounded the ball to Joey DiOrio on the left wing and his shot as time expired came up short of the rim.
For the game, Marietta shot 35.7% (25-of-70) from the floor, 26.7% (8-of-30) from three-point range and 73.7% (14-of-19) at the line. The Polar Bears were 29-of-65 (44.6%) from the floor, 6-of-24 (25.0%) from three-point territory and just 7-of-16 (43.8%) at the line.
The Pioneers outrebounded Ohio Northern 47-42. Marietta forced 14 ONU turnovers while committing 13 turnovers in the game.
Marietta travels to host Capital University on Wednesday (Jan. 13). Tip off is set for 7:30 p.m. in Columbus. 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.
