WESTERVILLE, Ohio — Marietta College led wire to wire as the Pioneers defeated Otterbein University, 73-67, in the Ohio Athletic Conference Men's Basketball Tournament quarterfinals Tuesday (Feb. 20) evening. The victory avenged two regular season losses to Otterbein.
The fifth-seeded Pioneers improve to 17-9 on the season. Otterbein, the fourth seed, finishes its season with an identical 17-9 record. Marietta plays at top-seeded and No. 3 ranked John Carroll University on Thursday (Feb. 22) at 7 p.m. in the semifinals.
"Tonight was a valiant effort by our guys. It was one of our best defensive efforts this year," Marietta head coach
Jon VanderWal said. "Every time they made a run, we had guys step up and make big plays."
Marietta scored first on a jumper from
David Sanford (Springfield, Ohio/Springfield). Otterbein answered with a bucket from Cam Evans and then surrendered the next 11 points. The Pioneers got five points from
Sahmi Willoughby (Groveport, Ohio/Reynoldsburg), a three-pointer from Sanford and a basket from
Danny Flood (Valley City, Ohio/Buckeye) during the run.
The Cardinals slowly chipped away at the Marietta lead and got within two points, 22-20, on a jumper in the paint from Julian Heckman with 3:53 left in the first half. Marietta answered with back-to-back three-pointers from
Jac Alexander (Oak Harbor, Ohio/Oak Harbor) and
Jack Main (Winter Garden, Fla./West Orange).
Marietta finished the first half with an 11-2 run and took a 15-point lead, 39-24, into halftime. Sanford canned a pair of triples and Alexander added five points, including a buzzer-beating three-pointer, in the run.
Otterbein opened the second half with a 13-4 run cutting the deficit to six points, 43-37, just over seven minutes into the period. Seven straight points, including three-pointers from
De'Ovion Price (River Rouge, Mich./River Rouge) and
Frank Waganfeald (Oregon, Ohio/Clay), for the Navy Blue and White pushed the margin back to 13 points, 50-37 midway through the half.
The Pioneers maintained a double-digit lead until the five-minute mark when Alex Hannah drained a three-pointer for the Cardinals. Otterbein got within four points several times but the Cardinals were forced to foul as time ran out on the Otterbein comeback bid. Sanford, Alexander and Price converted two free throws each in the final minute to secure the victory.
Sanford led the Pioneers with 17 points. Waganfeald scored 16 points, Alexander had 12 points, and Willoughby had a double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds. Price finished with nine points and nine assists.
Jack Clement led Otterbein with 15 points and eight rebounds. Evans and Heckman scored 14 points each, while Troy Scowden finished with 10 points.
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.
