MARIETTA, Ohio — No. 13 Marietta College opened Ohio Athletic Conference play with a 35-point drubbing of Ohio Northern University Saturday (Dec. 4) afternoon. The Pioneers cruised to a 94-59 victory improving to 4-2 overall and 1-0 in the OAC. The Polar Bears move to 4-2 on the season and 0-1 in the OAC.
"It was a great team win for us today. We had some guys really step up and play well," said Marietta head coach
Jon VanderWal. "We've been a little banged up and had to adjust our line up and some new faces made a lot of plays today. It's nice to see our guys playing with confidence."
Landon Long hit a three-pointer in the opening minute to give Ohio Northern a 3-2 lead. It would be their only lead of the afternoon as the Pioneers scored the next eight points of the game and never looked back.
A jumper from
Mason Lydic (Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio/Woodridge) at the 14:44 mark pushed the Marietta advantage into double digits, 17-6, where it stayed for all but a few seconds the rest of the game. The Pioneers steadily increased the margin and took a 20-point lead, 52-32, into halftime.
Any hopes of a Polar Bear comeback were erased when Marietta went on a 12-0 run over a three-minute span.
Jac Alexander (Port Clinton, Ohio/Oak Harbor) capped the run with a jumper making it 66-38 with 13:04 left in the game.
Ryan Reidy (Cincinnati, Ohio/Archbishop McNicholas) gave the Pioneers their biggest lead of the day, 36 points, with a layup at the 6:38 mark that closed a 11-2 run as Marietta led 81-45.
Marietta's bench outscored ONU's 48-19 in the game. After VanderWal pulled his regulars, the Pioneer offensive onslaught continued with three-pointers from
Torin Lochow (Huntington, W.Va./Huntington),
Jalen Greiser (Loveland, Ohio/Loveland) and
Sam Oliver (North Canton, Ohio/Glenoak).
Jason Ellis (Marion, Ohio/Marion Harding) led Marietta with 17 points. Lydic finished with 15 points and
Jac Alexander (Port Clinton, Ohio/Oak Harbor) added 11.
Brennen Crawford (Pittsburgh, Pa./Kiski School) chipped in with nine points and a game-high eight rebounds.
Brandon Waugh led the Polar Bears with a game-best 20 points. Landen Long added nine points and five rebounds.
Marietta plays at Baldwin Wallace University next Sunday (Dec. 12) at 5 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.
