MARIETTA, Ohio — After falling to defeat to two nationally ranked conference foes, Marietta College got back to their winning ways with a convincing 94-60 victory over Wilmington College Saturday (Feb. 11) afternoon in Ohio Athletic Conference men's basketball action. The Pioneers are now 14-9 overall and 9-7 in the OAC. Wilmington falls to 7-16 on the season and 3-13 in conference games.
"I thought I was one of our most balanced games of the year," Marietta head coach
Jon VanderWal said. "We were really solid on both ends of the floor and played with confidence."
Marietta began the contest on a 9-0 run, fueled by three pointers from
Lovenson Xavier (Naples, Fla./Community School of Naples) and
Cooper Parrott (Willard, Ohio/Willard). The Pioneer lead was short-lived, though, as Wilmington rattled off 12 of the next 14 points. Abdul Kanu hit from three-point range to get within one point of the lead and scored on a driving layup on the next possession to give Wilmington the lead, 12-11.
David Sanford (Springfield, Ohio/Springfield) made an immediate impact off the bench as Marietta would go on another run, this time nine points. Sanford nailed three consecutive jumpers to extend the Marietta lead to 20-12 with a little over 11 minutes remaining in the half. Parrott shot the lights out in the first half, hitting on all five shots he took. He hit twice from three-point range midway through the half to give Marietta a 28-18 lead.
The Quakers made a move to get back into the game as Domenic Farley scored five consecutive points to cut the lead to five with 4:32 remaining. Marietta answered with a 13-0 run to close out the half, fueled by five points from Parrott and four points from
Frank Waganfeald (Oregon, Ohio/Clay). Sanford closed the half on a mid-range jumper and Marietta took a 48-30 lead into intermission.
Wilmington got no closer than 13 points in the second half as the Pioneers gradually extended lead for the remainder of the period and cruised to a 94-60 victory.
Parrott finished with an 8 of 12 shooting performance, including five three pointers, resulting in 23 points for the Pioneers. Sanford provided 15 points coming off the bench. Xavier chipped in with 12 points and eight rebounds. Wagenfeald finished with 11 points, four assists, three rebounds, a block, and a steal.
Domenic Farley and Izaiah Cathy came off the bench to lead the Quakers in scoring, 14 and 13 points respectively. Abdul Kanu was the lone starter to reach double figures with 10 points and he also collected six rebounds.
Marietta travel to Columbus this Wednesday (Feb. 11) to try and avenge another earlier season loss. They will take on Capital University with a tip-off set for 7 p.m.
Fans can follow the Pioneers all season long at
pioneers.marietta.edu. You can also follow the Pioneers on Facebook at
facebook.com/MariettaCollege and @MariettaPioneer on Twitter and Instagram.
