MARIETTA, Ohio — The No. 22 ranked Marietta College men's basketball team defeated the University of Mount Union, 80-71, Wednesday (Jan. 31) in Ban Johnson Arena. The Pioneers improve to 16-4 overall and 10-3 in the Ohio Athletic Conference. The Purple Raiders slip to 10-10 overall and 6-7 in the OAC.
Senior
Dillon Young (Laurelville, Ohio/Logan Elm) equaled his career-high with 25 points to lead Marietta.
Kyle Dixon (Poland, Ohio/Poland Seminary) scored 14 points and
DeVaughn Wingard (Warrensville Heights, Ohio/Orange) finished with 12 points and eight rebounds.
JJ Kukura led Mount Union with 29 points and 15 rebounds. Nathan Bower-Malone added 20 points, while D'Vontay Friga had 15 points.
Marietta led by as many as eight points in the first half and took a four-point lead, 39-35, into halftime.
The Purple Raiders opened the second half with a 15-4 run to go in front, 50-43, four minutes into the period. The teams exchanged small leads over the next eight minutes and Mount held a 60-58 lead with 8:36 remaining.
The Pioneers scored the next nine points.
Mike Hall (Belpre, Ohio/Warren) hit a three-pointer to trigger the run and Dixon knocked down a pair of free throws and a three-pointer to finish it.
Mount Union managed to get within three points, 67-64, only to see the Pioneers score the next six points. Marietta converted 22-of-24 free throws in the second half to keep the Purple Raiders from pulling off the upset.
For the game, Marietta shot 45.8% (22-of-48) from the floor, 35.3% (6-of-17) from three-point range and 85.7% (30-of-35) at the line. The Purple Raiders were 27-of-66 (40.9%) from the floor, 7-of-30 (23.3%) behind the arc and 10-of-12 (83.3%) at the line.
The Pioneers outrebounded Mount Union, 40-31. Marietta turned the ball over 15 times, while Mount Union committed just seven turnovers.
Marietta stays home to host Heidelberg University on Saturday (Feb. 3). Tip-off is set for 3 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.
