MARIETTA, Ohio — Marietta College failed to get a last second shot off before the buzzer sounded as No. 12 ranked John Carroll University won the Ohio Athletic Conference Men's Basketball Tournament Championship 87-85 Saturday (Feb. 27) evening in a jam-packed Ban Johnson Arena.
With the victory, John Carroll secures the OAC's automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament. The Pioneers, currently ranked No. 4 nationally, will have to wait until Monday to find out if they are awarded an at-large spot in the tournament field. However, at 25-3 on the season, Marietta appears to be a lock to get into the Big Dance.
John Carroll (25-3 overall), who led for most of the game, snapped Marietta's 17-game winning streak. The Blue Streak defense forced the Pioneers to commit an uncharacteristic 16 turnovers in the game that resulted in 17 JCU points.
Tournament Most Valuable Player David Linane and all-tournament team member Ryan Farragher led John Carroll with 18 points each. Antonia Vuyancih added 16 points and Simon Kucharewicz finished with 11 points.
Luis Garcia (Miami, Fla./Florida Christian) paced Marietta with 20 points.
Dillon Young (Laurelville, Ohio/Logan Elm) and
Kyle Dixon (Poland, Ohio/Poland Seminary) each scored 14 points, while
Eddy Grenert (Wooster, Ohio/Triway) posted a double-double with 12 points and a game-high 12 rebounds. Garcia and
A.J. Edwards (Twinsburg, Ohio/Twinsburg) earned all-tournament honors for the Pioneers.
A jumper from Linane with 13:12 left in the game gave the Blue Streaks an 11-point lead, 60-49. Rather than let John Carroll put the game away, Marietta answered with a 15-4 run to even the game at 64-64, with just over nine minutes to play.
Three-pointers from
Jack Thome (Chagrin Falls, Ohio/Chagrin Falls), Dixon and Garcia fueled the Pioneer run and brought the capacity crowd back to life. Following a layup from Farragher, Young drained another triple to put Marietta in front for the first time, 67-66.
The teams exchanged leads over the next few minutes. A pair of free throws from Young tied the game at 81-81 with 1:38 left on the clock.
Kucharewicz scored on a layup and then blocked Grenert's shot on Marietta's next possession. Buckets from Linane and Will Starks extended the JCU lead to six points, 87-81 with 21 seconds remaining.
Garcia cut the lead to four with a layup. The Pioneers were forced to foul and put Linane on the line with nine seconds left for a one-and-one. Linane missed the front end and MC grabbed the rebound.
Following a timeout, the Pioneers threw the ball the length of the court and Garcia scored another layup making it 87-85. Once again Marietta put Linane on the line and he again missed the front end of a one-and-one.
With four seconds showing on the clock, each team called a timeout to discuss their game plan. Marietta inbounded the ball to Young who raced up the floor avoiding John Carroll defenders, but jut as he pulled up for the potential game-winning three-pointer, the buzzer sounded.
The NCAA Tournament field will be announced at 12:30 p.m. on Monday.
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.
