LAS VEGAS, Nevada — No. 8 Marietta College finished the nonconference portion of its schedule with an 87-74 win over Transylvania University Wednesday (Dec. 29) evening in the D3hoops.com Classic. Marietta improves to 8-2 on the season, while Transylvania falls to 6-4 overall.
"I thought our guys did a great job of imposing their will early and jumping on Transy," Marietta head coach
Jon VanderWal said. "Unfortunately, foul trouble changed the game late into the first half but our guys came back out and really set the tone to start the second half. I'm just really proud of our group with their approach and how they have handled the two games out here."
Senior post player
Tim Kreeger (Delphos, Ohio/Delphos St. Johns) led all scorers with 19 points as Marietta had four players in double figures.
Mason Lydic (Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio/Woodridge) finished with 14 points, while
Jason Ellis (Marion, Ohio/Marion Harding) and
Sahmi Willoughby (Groveport, Ohio/Reynoldsburg) chipped in with 13 and 11 points, respectively.
Lydic earned All-Tournament Team honors after scoring 35 points and hitting eight three-pointers in Marietta's two games at the Classic. Lydic also dished out five assists in the win over Transylvania.
Marietta never trailed in the game after racing out to an early nine-point lead, 12-3, four minutes into the first half. Six points from Kreeger and three-pointers from Lydic and Ellis spurred the run.
Two free throws from Lydic with 5:04 left in the period extended the Marietta lead to 15 points, 32-17. Transylvania answered with a 13-2 run cutting the deficit to four points, 34-30, with less than two minutes remaining in the first half. Marietta led 40-34 at halftime.
Marietta doubled its lead in the first two minutes of the second half. Kreeger scored Marietta's first six points of the half and then a Lydic layup pushed the margin to 12 points, 48-36, at the 17:57 mark.
A 23-5 run from Marietta ballooned the margin to 28 points, 71-43, midway through the period and put the game out of reach for Transylvania.
Brandon Cromwell and Colby Napier scored 16 points apiece to lead Transylvania. Cromwell grabbed a game-high eight rebounds. Hunter Penn added 10 points and three blocks.
Marietta returns to action next Wednesday (Jan. 5). The Pioneers travel to rival Muskingum University for a 7 p.m. tipoff.
Fans can follow the Pioneers all season long at
pioneers.marietta.edu. You can also follow the Pioneers on Facebook at
facebook.com/MariettaCollege and @MariettaPioneer on Twitter and Instagram.
