MARIETTA, Ohio — Marietta College got off to hot start, but found themselves down by one to Wilmington College with eight minutes left in the first half. After closing the half on a 15-6 run, the Pioneers outlasted the Quakers and went on to claim a 71-57 victory Saturday (Dec. 7) afternoon in Ohio Athletic Conference men's basketball action. Marietta improves to 5-1 overall and 1-0 in the OAC. The Quakers fall to 2-6 on the season and 0-2 in conference play.
"I'm not happy with the way we played today," Marietta head coach
Jon VanderWal said. "We started the game perfectly. We executed our stuff, got good looks, knocked down some early shots, but down the stretch we didn't shoot the ball like we have been. We got the win, and that's always good, but we have some things to work on before we make the trip to University Heights next weekend."
Marietta jumped out to an 8-0 lead to begin the contest, getting threes from
Frank Waganfeald (Oregon, Ohio/Clay) and
De'Ovion Price (River Rouge, Mich./River Rouge). Waganfeald then took a great pass from
Jake Singleton (Senecaville, Ohio/Meadowbrook) and converted a layup at the 15:14 mark to push the Pioneer lead to nine. Wilmington answered with an 11-3 run over the next four minutes, capped off by a trey from Gavin Heimlich, and only trailed 16-15.
With less than nine minutes in the half, Wilmington grabbed their first and only lead of the game when Dominec Farley scored a layup and bonus free throw and Obed Archirem followed with a layup, giving the Quakers a 20-19 margin. Marietta quickly reclaimed the lead as Singleton scored inside the paint and
Danny Flood (Valley City, Ohio/Buckeye) followed with a jumper to push the lead to three. The Pioneers would close out the final four minutes with an 11-4 run, including six points from Singleton, and took a 34-25 lead at halftime.
After Wilmington's Rashid Chisholm scored the opening bucket of the second half, Marietta answered with 10 consecutive points, four from Waganfeald and four from
Jack Main (Winter Garden, Fla./West Orange), giving Marietta a 17-point lead five minutes into the second period.
Elijah Cathey came off the bench to provide a spark for the Quakers, hitting a pair of three-pointers to cut the deficit to 12, but every Wilmington run was answered with a run by the Pioneers. Marietta got four straight points when Main converted a layup and
Jayden Bradshaw (Blanchester, Ohio/Fayetteville-Perry) tipped in a missed Pioneer three-pointer and the Pioneers enjpyed a comfortable 16-point advantage. The Quakers could not overcome the deficit and Marietta would go on to claim a 71-56 OAC victory.
Waganfeald and Singleton finished with 16 points apiece. Main finished with a double-double, 15 points and 10 rebounds. Singleton also led the team with four assists and three steals.
Cathey came off the bench to lead the Quakers with 15 points. Achirum finished with 14 points and six rebounds.
Marietta is back on the road this Saturday (Dec 14) as they play the second half of a women's/men's doubleheader. They are scheduled for a 4:00 p.m. game at John Carroll University.
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 X and Instagram.
