MARIETTA, Ohio — Senior
A.J. Edwards (Twinsburg, Ohio/Twinsburg) was in full beast mode as the No. 4 ranked Marietta College men's basketball team dominated Wilmington College, 104-77, Saturday (Dec. 17) afternoon in Ban Johnson Arena. The All-American poured in 31 points and grabbed 17 rebounds as the Pioneers improved to 8-1 overall and 3-1 in the Ohio Athletic Conference.
With his fourth double-double of the season, Edwards notched new career-highs in both points and rebounds against the Quakers. He connected on 12-of-17 shots from the floor. Nine of his 17 boards came on the offensive glass.
Kyle Dixon (Poland, Ohio/Poland Seminary) also recorded a double-double for MC with 13 points and 10 rebounds.
Keith Richardson (Englewood, Ohio/Northmont), making his first start of the season, finished with 21 points, while
Anthony Wallace (Wheeling, W.Va./The Linsly School) chipped in with 15 markers.
Wilmington (3-6 overall, 0-4 OAC) held a couple of small leads in the opening minutes before the Pioneers went on a 16-4 run, capped by a three-pointer from freshman
Caleb Hoyng (Celina, Ohio/Celina), to lead by 10 points, 21-11, with 14:23 left in the opening period.
Marietta wasted little time pushing the margin over 20 points where it stayed for most of the afternoon. A layup from Edwards with 2:42 left in the first half stretched the lead to 34 points, 56-22. The Pioneers led 56-30 at halftime.
The Quakers came out firing in the second half and quickly trimmed the Pioneer advantage to 19 points, 56-37. The lead hovered around the 20-point mark for most of the second half. Edwards scored his final two points of the game on a layup with 4:51 remaining to cap a 10-0 Pioneer run. Marietta cleared its bench with the score 94-68.
Andrew Russell and Kevin Lewis each scored 13 points to lead the Quakers. Russell grabbed a team-high seven rebounds.
For the game, Marietta shot 55.9% (38-of-68) from the floor, 40.9% (9-of-22) from three-point range and 73.1% (19-of-26) at the free throw line. Wilmington was 28-of-63 (44.4%) from the floor, 9-of-27 (33.3%) behind the arc and 12-of-20 (60.0%) at the line.
Marietta dominated the glass grabbing 45 rebounds to just 29 for the Quakers. Wilmington turned the ball over 17 times, while the Pioneers committed 15 turnovers.
The Pioneers wrap up the nonconference portion of their schedule this week with a pair of games against nationally ranked opponents at the Daytona Beach Shootout. Marietta will face #22 Wesleyan University on Wednesday (Dec. 21) at 6 p.m. and #3 Whitman College on Thursday (Dec. 22) at 6 p.m.
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.
