WESTERVILLE, Ohio — No. 4-ranked Marietta College easily defeated Otterbein University 80-56 Wednesday (Feb. 17) evening in the Rike Center. The Pioneer win, coupled with Mount Union's 100-94 victory over John Carroll, gives Marietta the Ohio Athletic Conference regular season championship and the top seed in next week's tournament.
Marietta improves to 22-2 overall and 16-1 in the OAC. The title is MC's third regular season crown in the last six years. Otterbein falls to 4-20 overall and 2-15 in the OAC.
A.J. Edwards (Twinsburg, Ohio/Twinsburg) notched a double-double to lead the Pioneers. Edwards finished with a game-high 20 points and 12 rebounds.
Dillon Young (Laurelville, Ohio/Logan Elm) hit five three-pointers and scored 19 points, while
Luis Garcia (Miami, Fla./Florida Christian) had 13 points.
Jake Phillis was the lone Cardinal in double figures with 18 points. Grant Fenner and Connor Clark each added nine points. Bryan Mackenzie grabbed a team-best six boards.
Otterbein kept the game close for most of the first half. A three-pointer from Phillis at the 4:23 mark cut the Marietta lead to four, 32-28. However, those were the last points the Cardinals would score in the first half as the Pioneers finished the period o a 9-0 run to lead 41-28 at halftime.
Marietta opened the second half with back-to-back jumpers from Edwards and Young to quickly push the lead to 17 points and never looked back. Otterbein got no closer than 12 points and trailed by as many as 29 after halftime.
For the game, Marietta shot 50.8% (30-of-59) from the floor, 41.4% (12-of-29) from three-point range and 66.7% (8-of-12) at the free throw line. The Cardinals were 18-of-58 (31.0%) from the floor, 9-of-27 (33.3%) behind the arc and 11-of-14 (78.6%) at the line.
The Pioneers outrebounded Otterbein 41-30. Both teams committed 13 turnovers.
Marietta wraps up the regular season on Saturday (Feb. 20) at Ohio Northern University. Tip off is set for 3:00 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.
