WILMINGTON, Ohio — No. 20 ranked Marietta College scored the first nine points of the game and never looked back as the Pioneers dominated Wilmington College in a 100-71 win Saturday (Dec. 16) afternoon.
Marietta improves to 7-2 on the season and 2-2 in the Ohio Athletic Conference. The Quakers fall to 3-6 overall and 0-4 in the conference.
"I thought the first half was our best half of basketball this year. Our guys were dialed in on both ends of the floor," Marietta head coach
Jon VanderWal said. "After being out rebounded the past two games it was nice to see us own the glass today. Rebounding has to be a staple of our program."
Anthony Wallace (Wheeling, W.Va./The Linsly School) led five Pioneers in double figures with 16 points on 7-of-11 shooting from the floor.
Avery Williams (Nashport, Ohio/Tri-Valley) notched his second straight double-double with 14 points and a game-best 11 rebounds.
Caleb Hoyng (Celina, Ohio/Celina) and
Jason Ellis (Marion, Ohio/Marion Harding) each scored 12 points off the bench. Ellis, who had played a total of nine minutes before today, drained four three-pointers, including three in the first half.
Kyle Dixon (Poland, Ohio/Poland Seminary) chipped in with 11 points and four rebounds, while
DeVaughn Wingard (Warrensville Heights, Ohio/Orange) finished with nine points and four boards.
Marietta was nearly flawless in the first half. The Pioneers pushed the margin over 20 points midway through the period. A layup from Wallace with 1:10 left in the half made it a 34-point game, 52-18. MC led 52-23 at the break.
The teams played evenly in the second half with each scoring 48 points in the final 20 minutes.
Nathan Scott had five three-pointers and led Wilmington with 17 points. Will Patrick finished with 14 points and Christian Jones chipped in with 10 points.
For the game, Marietta shot 54.1% (33-of-61) from the floor, 44.4% (12-of-27) from three-point range and 66.7% (22-of-33) at the free throw line. The Quakers were 21-of-59 (35.6%) from the floor, 12-of-29 (41.4%) behind the arc and 17-of-22 (77.3%) at the line.
The Pioneers totally dominated the glass outrebounding Wilmington, 47-25. The Quakers turned the ball over 14 times, while Marietta committed 13 turnovers.
Marietta is off until after Christmas. The Pioneers will play in the Wittenberg Kiwanis Holiday Classic on December 29-30. Marietta faces No. 16 Hanover at 4:30 p.m. on the 29th and plays Wittenberg at 7 p.m. on the 30th.
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.
