EMORY, Virginia – The No. 18 ranked Marietta College men's basketball team dominated Emory and Henry on Wednesday (Nov.20) evening, 89-65. The Pioneers improve to 3-0 early on the season and the Wasps fall to 1-2 overall.
"I thought our guys did a great job of setting the tone and being ready to play right from the start," Marietta head coach
Jon VanderWal said. "We jumped out on them early and did a nice job not getting complacent when we got up big. It's nice to know we can travel 4-5 hours, get off the bus, and we are ready to battle."
Each team scored on their opening possession and Emory and Henry led 5-4 two minutes into the game. Marietta answered with a 14-0 run that propelled them to an 18-5 edge with just over six minutes into the game. The scoring came from five different Pioneers as
Christian James (Springboro, Ohio/Springboro) and
Mason Lydic (Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio/Woodridge) each hit three-pointers, and
Lukas Isaly (Clarington, Ohio/River),
Jason Ellis (Marion, Ohio/Marion Harding), and
Mike Hall (Belpre, Ohio/Warren) converted layups.
Marietta maintained its double-digit margin with 8:32 minutes to play in the opening half, as they led 24-9. The Wasps responded with a 12-2 spurt, that trimmed the Pioneers' advantage to 26-21 with just under six minutes to play in the half.
The Pioneers regained their double-digit lead when they opened up a 12-0 run to notch a 37-21 lead. The run was highlighted by Isaly as he scored eight of the 12 points. Marietta ended the first half strong and extended its lead to 46-26 to enter the intermission.
Emory and Henry opened the second half with a small surge, as they trimmed the Marietta advantage to under 20 points, 49-30. The Pioneers quickly regained their momentum with a 10-0 run that spanned more than four minutes. The run was started by five consecutive points from Ellis, and capped by a
Kyle Matoszkia (Johnstown, Ohio/Johnstown) free throw to put Marietta up 59-30.
The Pioneers continued to dominate the game and extended their advantage to 70-39 with nine minutes remaining in the game. With just under five minutes remaining in the ball game a three from James gave Marietta its largest lead of the night at 82-47.
The Wasps closed the gap with a 14-0 run that saw them cut the Pioneer advantage to 83-63 with just under two minutes to play in the game. Marietta closed out the game and won 89-65.
The Pioneers were led by Isaly as he led all scorers with 19 points, on 8-13 shooting from the field. Ellis added 17 points and six rebounds in the game. Lydic had a team high eight rebounds and notched 10 points in the game.
Marietta opens Ohio Athletic Conference play on Tuesday (Nov. 26) at No. 22 Baldwin Wallace University. Tip-off is set for 7 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.
