WILMINGTON, Ohio — Senior
Luis Garcia (Miami, Fla./Florida Christian) poured in a career-high 34 points to lead No. 8 ranked Marietta College to a 98-85 victory over Wilmington College Saturday (Feb. 6) afternoon. The Pioneers, winners of 11 straight, improve to 19-2 overall and 13-1 in the Ohio Athletic Conference. Wilmington slips to 3-16 overall and 2-12 in the OAC.
Garcia hit 11-of-18 shots from the floor, including a trio of three-pointers, and was 9-of-9 at the free line.
A.J. Edwards (Twinsburg, Ohio/Twinsburg) notched his seventh double-double of the season with 23 points and a game-high 13 rebounds. Point guard
Dillon Young (Laurelville, Ohio/Logan Elm) added 12 points, while
Eddy Grenert (Wooster, Ohio/Triway) had seven points and eight boards.
Brandon Smith sank five three-pointers and finished with 31 points off the bench to lead the Quakers. Zach McCorkle tallied 13 points and six rebounds, while Nathan Scott had 11 points and six boards.
Marietta totally dominated the glass outrebounding the Quakers 41-27. The Pioneers grabbed 17 offensive rebounds and tallied 19 second chance points in the game. Wilmington's only lead of the game came in the opening minutes.
An 11-4 run midway through the first half pushed the Pioneer advantage to 10 points, 31-21. Garcia scored the final five points of the run with a three-pointer and a layup in a matter of seconds.
The Quakers stayed within striking distance on the strength of three triples from Smith down the stretch of the first half. Marietta led by four, 45-41, at the break.
Garcia and Smith both stayed hot in the second half. Garcia scored 19 of his game-high point total in the second, while Smith tossed in 21 points after halftime.
Wilmington got within five points several times in the second period only to see Marietta push the margin back to double digits. The Pioneers put the game away with a 10-2 run late in the game. Once again it was Garcia leading the MC attack as the wing accounted for six of Marietta's points during the run.
For the game, Marietta shot 53.4% (31-of-58) from the floor, 33.3% (7-of-21) from three-point range and 70.7% (29-of-41) at the line. The Quakers were 21-of-60 (51.7%) from the floor, 7-of-17 (41.2%) behind the arc and 16-of-21 (76.2%) at the line.
Marietta returns to the friendly confines of Ban Johnson Arena on Wednesday (Feb. 10) to host No. 25 ranked Mount Union. Tip off is set for 7:30 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.
