WOOSTER, Ohio — The #11 Marietta College men's basketball team's historical run ended Friday (March 11) night following a 93-77 loss to #1 Whitworth University in the NCAA Division III "Sweet 16". [Box Score]

The Pirates (18-1) advance to the sectional final at 7 p.m. Saturday (March 12) against the winner of the Cabrini College and #5 College of Wooster match-up, which followed inside the Timken Gymnasium on the campus of the College of Wooster.

The Ohio Athletic Conference regular season and tournament champion Pioneers finished the season 27-4. Marietta, who does not have a senior in the program, set a school record for wins and made the deepest NCAA tournament run in program history.

"I told the guys in the locker room not to hang their heads. They need to realize they are the best team to have ever worn that Marietta College uniform," fourth-year Head Coach Jon VanderWal said. "We've accomplished so much this year. I could not be more proud. We just ran into a buzz saw tonight…the best NCAA Division III team that I have ever seen."

Whitworth, who shot a blistering 61.7% (29-of-47) overall and 60.0% (12-of-20) on the night, hit its first six shots and jumped out to a 20-point lead, 35-15, with 8:24 to play in the opening half.

Like they have done all year, the Pioneers didn't lose their composure and fought back to within nine points, 42-33, with 1:24 remaining in the period. The Pirates, however, closed the half with five straight points to enter the break with a 47-33 advantage.

Marietta, using the energy of the more that 1,500 Pioneer fans that made the two-hour trip, opened the second half with a 9-0 run to climb within five points, 47-42, just 2:07 into the final period. Whitworth, however, boosted its lead back up to 14 points, 65-51, at the midway point of the half.

The Pioneers, who shot 51.0% (25-of-49) themselves, made one more run to cut the deficit to nine points, 65-56, with 8:29 remaining, but the Pirates continued to knock down shots and went on to win by 16, 93-77.

Junior Conner Kilpatrick (Bowling Green/Bowling Green) came off the bench to lead Marietta with a career-best 16 points. Sophomore Jacob Owens (Mansfield/Mansfield) hit 4-of-7 from long range to chip in 14 points, while freshman Tyler Hammond (Cleveland/St. Ignatius) added 12, and juniors Joe Puch (Brunswick/Brunswick) and Trevor Halter (Malvern/Malvern) had seven. Junior Kevin Knab (Lakewood/Lakewood) finished with eight points before fouling out with five minutes left in the game.

Mike Taylor, the 2007 Big Sky Freshman of the Year while at Eastern Washington, paced all scorers with 27 points. Wade Gebbers followed with 22 points and David Riles added 20 in the win.

"It wasn't that our guys weren't ready to go. It wasn't that it was our first time in the "Sweet 16". It had nothing to do with that," VanderWal said. "It had everything to do with Whitworth is just really that good and they played really good today. They are the number one team in the country and they deserve it."