MARIETTA, Ohio — A 48-point explosion in the second half propelled the Marietta College men's basketball team to an 83-61 victory over Ohio Athletic Conference (OAC) rival Baldwin-Wallace College Saturday (Dec. 4) afternoon inside Ban Johnson Arena. The Pioneers led by just two at the half, 35-33, but dominated the second 20 minutes and outscored the Yellow Jackets 48-28 in the half and enabling them to cruise to the victory. [Box Score]

Head Coach Jon VanderWal's squad improved to 6-0 overall and 2-0 in the OAC and is now one win shy of matching the 1908-09 and 1975-75 teams for the best start in school history. Baldwin-Wallace fell to 2-4, 1-1 in league play.

Marietta opened the game with a 10-2 run over the first four minutes. Baldwin-Wallace, however, fought back each time it looked as if Marietta was going to pull away during the first stanza of play. A three-pointer from Yellow Jacket guard Zane Meeder cut the Pioneer lead to 35-33 just before the break.

The Pioneers came out in the second half with a blistering 12-2 run over the first five minutes to extend their advantage to 47-35. The lead stayed in double digits for most f the half until the Yellow Jackets scored four straight points to bring the lead down to 50-43 with 11:48 to play in regulation. A three-pointer from junior wing Trevor Halter (Malvern/Malvern) in the waning seconds of the shot clock put the Pioneers back up 10, 53-43, and the lead would not go below double digits for the rest of the way. The Pioneers then outscored the Yellow Jackets 30-18 over the final 11:18 of the contest to cruise to 83-61 victory.

Junior standout Kevin Knab (Lakewood/Lakewood) led all scorers with 22 points while grabbing four rebounds in the win. Halter followed with 18 points and four rebounds of his own. Freshman guard Tyler Hammond (Cleveland/St. Ignatius) added nine points while dishing out a team-high three assists. Sophomore post Jason Humphrey (Naples, Fla./Barron Collier) also contributed eight points and a game-high seven boards.

Kevin Kradowiak led Baldwin-Wallace with 15 points and four rebounds. Chris Ameen chipped 11 points for the Jackets in the loss.

Marietta shot 30-of-52 (57.7%) from the field, 7-of-16 (43.8%) from behind the arc and 16-of-23 (69.6%) from the free throw line. Baldwin-Wallace finished 22-of-53 (41.5%) from the field, 7-of-18 (38.9%) from three-point range and 10-of-21 (47.6%) from the charity stripe. The Pioneers held a commanding 36-25 edge n the boards and committed 15 turnovers to Jackets' 16.

Marietta returns to action Saturday (Dec. 11) when it plays host to Otterbein University on Fenton Court at 4 p.m.