MARIETTA, Ohio — Senior A.J. Edwards scored the first basket of the game to eclipse the 1,000-point plateau as No. 18 Marietta College outdueled John Carroll University, 86-81, Saturday (Jan. 21) afternoon in a packed Ban Johnson Arena.

Entering the weekend there was a three-way tie at the top of the Ohio Athletic Conference standings between Marietta, John Carroll and Ohio Northern. With today's win, the Pioneers improve to 13-4 overall and 8-2 in the OAC. John Carroll slips to 10-6 on the season and 7-3 in the OAC. Ohio Northern beat Mount Union today to stay tied with Marietta.

Keith Richardson scored 19 of his game-high 27 points in the second half as the Pioneers turned a seven-point halftime deficit into the five-point victory. Edwards finished with 15 points and six rebounds, while Kyle Dixon just missed a double-double with 12 points and nine boards.

Anthony Wallace scored all of his points in the second half and finished with 12 on the day. Mel Shuler also chipped in with 12 points for MC.

While the Pioneers held JCU's leading scorer, David Linane, to just six points, five other Blue Streaks scored in double figures. Simon Kucharewicz and Ryan Berger each scored a team-high 15 points. Kucharewicz notched the double-double with 11 rebounds.

The Blue Streak bench outscored Marietta's reserves 41-17. John Cirillo tallied 13 off the bench, while Matthew Csuhran and Doug Caputo added 11 and 10, respectively.

Marietta jumped out to the early lead. Edwards stepped outside and nailed a three-pointer to give MC an 18-9 lead five minutes in. John Carroll scored the next 18-straight points putting the Blue Streaks ahead by nine, 27-18, at the 8:40 mark.

John Carroll maintained the lead the rest of the half extending to as many as 10 points on three occasions. The Blue Streaks led 44-37 at the break.

Marietta head coach Jon VanderWal lit a fire under his team in the locker room and
The Pioneers ran off 16-straight points to start the second half. Richardson capped the run with a fast break layup to give MC a nine-point lead, 53-44, with 14:34 left on the clock.

The Blue Streaks managed to cut the deficit to two points, 68-66, on an old-fashioned three-point play with 5:34 remaining. But Marietta answered with the next seven points to push the margin back to nine, 75-66, at the 4:17 mark.

John Carroll hit a couple late three-pointers but were forced to foul and put the Pioneers on the line. Marietta converted 5-of-8 free throws down the stretch to secure the victory.

For the game, Marietta shot 44.4% (28-of-63) from the floor, 35.0% (7-of-20) from three-point range and 74.2% (23-of-31) at the free throw line. John Carroll was 32-of-76 (42.1%) from the floor, 9-of-24 (37.5%) behind the arc and 8-of-15 (53.3%) at the line.

Marietta edged the Blue Streaks on the glass, 45-41. The Pioneers turned the ball over 14 times, while John Carroll committed 12 turnovers.

Marietta hosts Otterbein University on Wednesday (Jan. 25) at 8 p.m.