MARIETTA, Ohio — The Marietta College men's basketball team posted a convincing 75-54 win over Otterbein University Wednesday (Jan. 25) evening in Ban Johnson Arena. The win was Marietta's 19th in a row against the Cardinals.
Marietta improves to 11-7 on the season and 6-5 in the Ohio Athletic Conference. Otterbein falls to 11-7 overall and 5-6 in league play.
"We didn't shoot it great tonight, but we got so many second chances. We pride ourselves on rebounding and they couldn't keep us off the glass," Marietta head coach
Jon VanderWal said. "We defended with real intensity and when you hold someone to 54 points you're probably going to win."
Lovenson Xavier (Naples, Fla./Community School of Naples) led the Pioneers with 23 points on 9-of-13 shooting from the floor.
Cooper Parrott (Willard, Ohio/Willard) hit a trio of three-pointers and finished with 15 points.
David Sanford (Springfield, Ohio/Springfield) chipped in with 11 points and six rebounds.
Frank Waganfeald (Oregon, Ohio/Clay) grabbed a game-high 10 rebounds to go along with six points.
Sahmi Willoughby (Groveport, Ohio/Reynoldsburg) dominated the offensive glass pulling down eight offensive rebounds. He finished with nine total rebounds and eight points.
Cam Evans led the Cardinals with 16 points and five rebounds. Julian Heckman had 14 points, including four three-pointers, before fouling out of the game.
Otterbein grabbed an early 4-3 lead but the Pioneers answered with a 13-0 run to take control. Marietta never trailed again. Xavier started the rally with a three-pointer and a jumper in the paint. Sanford had four points, while Parrott and
Jack Main (Winter Garden, Fla./West Orange) each had a bucket during the run.
A three-pointer from Parrott with 3:32 left in the first half pushed the Pioneer lead to 16 points, 34-18. Otterbein scored the next nine points trimming the margin to seven, 34-27. Marietta led 36-29 at halftime.
The Cardinals cut the margin to four points, 43-39, six minutes into the second half. A three-point play from Evans got Otterbein as close as they would get the rest of the game.
Any hope of a comeback for Otterbein was thwarted by a 11-1 run from the Pioneers pushing the lead back to 14 points, 54-40, with 8:52 to play. Parrott capped the run with a three-pointer and a bucket in the paint on consecutive possessions.
Two free throws from Xavier with 1:57 left on the clock gave Marietta its biggest lead of the night, 74-54.
Marietta plays at Baldwin Wallace University on Saturday (Jan. 28). Tip-off in Berea is set for 2:00 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.
