MARIETTA, Ohio — Fourth-year Head Coach Jon VanderWal's Marietta College men's basketball squad kept adding to its list of accomplishments for the 2010-11 winter campaign Wednesday (Feb. 9) night when the #18 Pioneers (20-2) tied the school record for wins in a season with an 81-66 victory over the visiting University of Mount Union inside Ban Johnson Arena. [Box Score]

It is just the third time overall and the first time since the 1954-55 and 1955-56 squads that a Pioneer team reached the 20-win plateau. The victory, the team's seventh straight, also set a new school record for Ohio Athletic Conference (OAC) wins. Marietta, now 13-2 in the OAC, has a two-game lead over second place John Carroll University with three games remaining.

Junior wing Trevor Halter (Malvern/Malvern) led all scorers with 24 points to go along with four rebounds. He moved into 23rd place all-time on the Pioneers' scoring list with 1,073 career points. Junior post Kevin Knab (Lakewood/Lakewood) added 12 points and tied a game-high with nine boards. He is now 15 points shy of joining Halter in the 1,000-point club. Classmate Joe Puch (Brunswick/Brunswick) chipped in with 11 points off the bench, while sophomore guard Tyler Worstell (Prospect/Franklin Heights) recorded five assists and three points in the victory.

Jimmy Wood led Mount Union (9-13, 7-8 OAC) with 21 points and four rebounds. Matt Kiger scored 15 points and pulled down six rebounds. Dave Pellerite added 11 points with nine rebounds, while Justen Little dished out five assists to go along with three points.

Marietta jumped out to an early 8-0 lead in front of another big crowd in Ban Johnson Arena. The Pioneers pushed the lead to 11 points, 21-10, but Mount Union owned the final 11 minutes of the half, out scoring Marietta 25-16, to trail 37-35 at halftime.

The game stayed within arms reach for Mount Union during the first four minutes. It trailed by three, 46-43, with 15:54 left in the second half. Marietta then exploded for a 21-3 run to take command 67-46 with 10:38 to play in regulation. Mount Union brought lead back down to 12, but would get no closer as the Pioneers went on to win 81-66.

Marietta, the #11 ranked shooting team in the country, shot 50% (29-of-58) from the field, 50% (10-of-20) from downtown and 76.5% (13-of-17) from the free throw line. Mount Union shot 47.1% (24-of-51) from the field, 26.7% (4-of-15) from three and 56% (14-of-25) from the free throw line. Mount Union held a slight edge on the boards 32-30 but committed 14 turnovers to Marietta's eight.

Marietta returns to action Saturday (Feb. 12) afternoon for its regular season home finale against Heidelberg University at 4 p.m. The Pioneers will be looking to avenge an 81-77 loss to the Student Princes on Jan. 8 and secure at least a share of the 2011 OAC regular season title.

Live video will be available at http://www.ustream.tv/channel/marietta-college-athletics and live statistics can be tracked at http://sidearmstats.com/marietta/mbball/index.htm.