MARIETTA, Ohio — No. 6 Marietta College extended its winning streak to fourteen games with a 94-82 victory over visiting Baldwin Wallace University Saturday (Jan. 29) afternoon in Ban Johnson Arena.
The Pioneers improve to 16-2 overall and remain atop the Ohio Athletic Conference with a perfect 11-0 league record. Baldwin Wallace falls to 11-6 on the season and 6-4 in conference play.
"BW has a really good team and I feel like we took their best shot today," Marietta head coach
Jon VanderWal said. "For them to shoot 53% from the field and hit 15 three's and for us to withstand that, it says a lot about the resiliency of our group. We have a veteran team that has been through a lot and their experience served us well today."
The first half featured a shootout between
Mason Lydic (Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio/Woodridge) and BW's Anthony Mazzeo. Both scored 16 points in the first half as they seemed to trade three-pointers. Lydic, back in the lineup after missing three games with an injury, nailed five triples in the first 20 minutes, while Mazzeo sank four from long range.
The first half was a back-and-forth affair with neither team leading by more than six points. There were three lead changes and six ties in the period.
Jason Ellis (Marion, Ohio/Marion Harding) drained a three-pointer as time ran out to give the Pioneers a five-point lead, 45-40, at halftime.
Marietta used a 7-0 run midway through the second half to take control of the game. Sahmi Willloughby punctuated the run with an alley-oop slam dunk off an assist from Ellis pushing the margin to 11 points, 67-56, with 9:25 left in the game.
Any hopes of a BW comeback were thwarted by fouls. Marietta went to the line 27 times in the second half converting 22 of the attempts.
Lukas Isaly (Clarington, Ohio/River) was a perfect 12-for-12 at the charity stripe in the second half.
Five Pioneers finished in double figures with Lydic leading the way with 23 points on six three-pointers. Isaly and Willoughby finished with 16 points apiece, while Ellis had 13 and
Tim Kreeger (Delphos, Ohio/Delphos St. Johns) chipped in with 10 points.
Willoughby had seven rebounds and four steals, while Ellis notched seven boards and dished out eight assists.
Mazzeo hit five three-pointers and led all scorers with 27 points. He also grabbed a team-high five rebounds. Jake Snyder finished with 17 points sinking five triples as well.
Marietta hosts rival Muskingum University on Wednesday (Feb. 2) for a 7 p.m. tip-off in Ban Johnson Arena
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.
