MARIETTA, Ohio – No. 2 ranked and top-seeded Marietta College defeated Ohio Northern University by the score of 99-63 in the quarterfinal round of the Ohio Athletic Conference Men's Basketball Tournament Tuesday (Feb. 22) evening in Ban Johnson Arena.
The Pioneers keep their winning streak alive at 21 straight victories and improve to 23-2 on the season, while the No. 8 seed Polar Bears finish their season at 10-15.
The Pioneers advance into the semifinals and will host No. 5 seed Baldwin Wallace on Thursday (Feb. 24). Tip-off against the Yellow Jackets, 87-79 winners over No. 4 seed Otterbein University in the quarterfinals, is set for 7 p.m.
"The guys played well tonight. We were a little shorthanded without Lydic, but Cooper (Parrott) stepped up and made a lot of nice plays for us and finished with a double-double," Marietta head coach
Jon VanderWal said. "It's good to get that first tournament win under our belt. This time of the year its one game at a time and now we will get ready for Baldwin Wallace on Thursday."
The Polar Bears scored the first two buckets of the game, but the Pioneers got on the board a minute into the game with a turnaround jumper from
Jason Ellis (Marion, Ohio/Marion Harding).
Addy Black's (Byesville, Ohio/Meadowbrook) layup at 17:40 mark gave the Pioneers their first lead.
After the two teams traded the lead,
Sahmi Willoughby (Groveport, Ohio/Reynoldsburg) delivered a dunk at the 5:15 mark that began a Marietta run.
Jac Alexander (Port Clinton, Ohio/Oak Harbor) and
Lukas Isaly (Clarington, Ohio/River) nailed two shots from downtown and Marietta found themselves leading by five halfway through the period. Marietta ended on a 11-0 run and led 43-25 at the half.
The Pioneers widened their lead as the second half began. Ellis hit two three-pointers and cut through the lane for a driving layup to bring the lead to 23 at the 15-minute mark.
Cooper Parrott (Willard, Ohio/Willard), who cracked the starting lineup this evening, began to heat up from 3-point range. He landed three bombs from the perimeter, expanding the lead to 32. Marietta continued to stay hot and closed out the game with the win, 99-63.
Marietta was led by Ellis. He had 22 points, on 4-of-7 shooting from behind the arc and pulled down four rebounds. Parrott and Isaly finished with 13 points apiece. Isaly led the way with 8 assists and Parrott led all players with 10 rebounds.
CJ Napier led all scorers with 23 points for the Polar Bears. Landen Long chipped in with 17 points.
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.
