DAYTONA BEACH, Florida — The Marietta College men's basketball team opened play in the Florida Sunshine Shootout with a convincing 75-53 win over Bates College Thursday (Dec. 29) evening. Marietta improves to 7-3 on the season, while Bates falls to 4-7 overall.
Both teams got off to a slow start and suffered from cold shooting. The Pioneers held a two-point lead, 15-13, with 8:54 left in the first half. Marietta took control of the game closing the first half on a 15-2 run over the final five minutes and took a 38-19 lead into halftime.
Stephon Baxter scored on a fast break layup cutting the Pioneer lead to 14 points, 43-29, with 15:28 left in the game. Bates would get no closer as Marietta responded with the next 14 points pushing the margin to 28 points, 57-29.
During the 14-0 run, Marietta got three-pointers from
Ryan Magill (Lancaster, Ohio/Fairfield Union),
Jake Singleton (Senecaville, Ohio/Meadowbrook) and
Danny Flood (Valley City, Ohio/Buckeye).
Frank Waganfeald (Oregon, Ohio/Clay) added three free throws during the spurt.
Waganfeald led the Pioneers with his first career double-double. The sophomore finished with 16 points and 10 rebounds.
David Sanford (Springfield, Ohio/Springfield) chipped in with 12 points.
Sahmi Willoughby (Groveport, Ohio/Reynoldsburg),
Jac Alexander (Port Clinton, Ohio/Oak Harbor) and
Danny Flood (Valley City, Ohio/Buckeye) each added seven points, while Willoughby grabbed 12 rebounds.
Baxter and David Omasombo led Bates with nine points each. Cam Riley grabbed a team-high seven rebounds.
Marietta closes out the non-conference portion of its schedule on Friday (Dec. 30) with a 5:00 p.m. game against Lebanon Valley College.
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.
