MARIETTA, Ohio — After getting off to a slow start, Marietta College went on a massive run to finish the first half and then cruised to victory over Washington and Jefferson College, 93-66, Friday (Nov. 10) evening to open the 2023-24 season.
"We're happy with that opening performance," said Marietta head coach
Jon VanderWal. "You never know until you get them under the lights for the first time in front of the fans, what you're going to get. Our guys came out and played their tails off."
The Presidents got on the board first with a jump shot from Nick Gearhart and then took a 5-2 lead with a three-pointer from Brandon Jakiela. With the score at tied at seven, W&J scored three consecutive buckets to push their lead to six, but the lead would not last. Marietta began to heat up from the perimeter, getting treys from
Jake Singleton (Senecaville, Ohio/Meadowbrook) and
Jayden Bradshaw (Blanchester, Ohio/Fayetteville-Perry), turning their deficit turned into a one-point lead. Singleton would hit twice more from beyond the arc over the next two minutes and Marietta took a 24-17 lead.
Later in the half,
Lovenson Xavier (Naples, Fla./Community School of Naples) hit a jumper from the paint and, after getting fouled, hit the subsequent free throw, giving Marietta their biggest lead at that juncture, 13 points. With four minutes left in the half,
Sahmi Willoughby (Groveport, Ohio/Reynoldsburg) scored inside the paint off of
De'Ovion Price (River Rouge, Mich./River Rouge) assist and
Cooper Parrott (Willard, Ohio/Willard) followed with three-pointer to give the Pioneers a 20-point lead.
Frank Waganfeald (Oregon, Ohio/Clay) got into the action with an offensive rebound and put back. Price finished the half canning a jumper to give Marietta firm control, taking a 50-24 lead into halftime.
Marietta started the second half where they left off. Xavier and
Ethan Andersen (Boardman, Ohio/Boardman) provided layups that pushed the lead to 30 points. W&J's Alex Acosta did his best to keep his Presidents in the game, scoring on three consecutive possessions and chipping down the lead to 58-36. Nick Gearhrart's jumper from the paint put the deficit to 20 points. Marietta would answer big as they went on an 11-2 run, featuring a steal and massive dunk from Willoughby. Washington and Jefferson would tally the final five points of the contest, but Marietta would walk away with the victory.
Willoughby led six Pioneers in double figures with 14 points, grabbing eight rebounds along the way. Parrott and Singleton finished with 13 points apiece, while Sanford, Xavier, and Waganfeald finished with 10 points.
Jakiela led all scorers with 19 points. Acosta added 13 points, five rebounds, and three blocks to the cause.
"Give W&J credit, they got us down early," concluded Coach VanderWal. "They were pressing us the whole time, which was a little nerve-wracking. We didn't panic. We shared the ball and played together. We just kept playing hard and I'm very proud of our effort."
In the opening game of the evening, #1 ranked Christopher Newport University overcame a slow start of their own to cruise to a 94-68 victory over Kenyon College.
The Captains and the Pioneers will battle in game two on Saturday (Nov. 11). with a scheduled tip-off at 7:00 p.m. Kenyon and W&J will play at 5:00 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 X and Instagram.
