WILMINGTON, Ohio — The frontcourt duo of Eddy Grenert and Garrett Stephenson combined for 24 points and 24 rebounds in Marietta College's 71-69 victory over Wilmington College Saturday (Dec. 6) afternoon in Ohio Athletic Conference men's basketball. The Pioneers improve to 7-0 overall and 2-0 in the OAC. Wilmington falls to 1-5 overall and 0-2 in the OAC.

Marietta dominated the paint outscoring the Quakers 43-16 in the lane. Grenert notched his third double-double of the season with 14 points and 12 rebounds, while Stephenson recorded his second with 10 points and 12 boards.

Sophomore Keith Richardson equaled Grenert with 14 points. Andy Dollman, Luis Garcia and Andy Stegman each chipped in with seven points.

Dwight Johnson led the Quakers with 14 points. Christian Jones scored 13 points and John Righter added 11 points. R.J. Leppert and Roemello Reeves each grabbed six rebounds for Wilmington.

While the Pioneers were pounding the ball inside to Grenert and Stephenson, the Quakers were launching three's. Wilmington kept itself in the game draining 13 from behind the arc. Johnson, Jones and Righter each had three treys in the game.

After trading small leads for most of the first half, the Pioneers managed an 8-0 run to take a 33-25 lead with 4:36 left in the opening period. A layup from Grenert in the final seconds gave Marietta a 41-31 lead at halftime.

Wilmington opened the second half with a 10-2 run cutting the margin to two, 43-41, at the 16:08 mark. A layup from Jonathan Bibbs at 8:52 gave the Quakers their first lead of the second half, 53-52.

The Quaker lead was short-lived as Marietta answered with a 6-2 run retaking the lead, 58-55, with 6:04 remaining. Following a three-pointer from Righter that tied the game at 58, A.J. Ireland converted one of two free throws to give Marietta the lead for good with 4:57 left.

Marietta pushed the margin back to six points, 69-63, on a layup from Richardson with 55 seconds left on the clock.  Two late three-pointers from Johnson were not enough as the Pioneers converted two of four free throws in the final 10 seconds to escape with the victory.

For the game, Marietta shot 44.1% (26-of-59) from the floor, 25.0% (5-of-20) from three-point range and 77.8% (14-of-18) from the free throw line. Wilmington was 23-of-65 (35.4%) from the floor, 13-of-29 (44.8%) from three-point range and 10-of-17 (58.8%) at the line.

Marietta outrebounded the Quakers 44-36. The Pioneers committed an uncharacteristic 16 turnovers, while Wilmington turned the ball over just eight times.

Marietta plays its fifth straight road game next Saturday (Dec. 13) at Heidelberg University. Tipoff is set for 3:00 p.m.