MARIETTA, Ohio — Sometimes to make history you need a little miracle.

For #13 Marietta College (25-3) it took a 60-point second half and back-to-back three-point baskets for the Pioneers to pull out an 88-85 victory over John Carroll University and claim its first Ohio Athletic Conference tournament championship in school history. [Box Score]

"This is just unbelievable," said OAC Tournament MVP Trevor Halter (Malvern/Malvern), who hit the game winning, three-pointer with 4.1 seconds remaining. "We had a play set up for me to drive to the hoop to get a basket or get fouled, but we couldn't get into the play and time was running out so I knew I had to get a shot up."

John Carroll (19-9) got one final look, but Corey Shontz missed a long three at the buzzer.

With the victory the Pioneers are guaranteed a spot in the NCAA Division III National Tournament. When and where Marietta plays will be announced at 1 p.m. Monday.

"I talked to the guys this week and I told them we wanted to cut down the nets in our own place and how bad it would feel to watch John Carroll cut them down," said Marietta coach Jon VanderWal. "Now we don't have sit around on Monday and wait and see if we are getting in the NCAA Tournament."

A raucous, packed house of 1,600 didn't sit down all game and aided the Pioneers as well. Marietta home-court advantage helped all week during the tournament.

"Not to steal from Reggie Miller's Winning Time, but you could feel the juice in the building," said All-Tournament selection Kevin Knab (Lakewood/Lakewood), who scored 14 before fouling out. "That second half was special."

Marietta's unbelievable second-half performance erased an unforgettable first-half that saw John Carroll make 61.1 percent of its shots for a 49-28 halftime lead.

"I think we fed off their crowd in the first half … we didn't give them much to cheer about," said JCU coach Mike Moran. "This was two good teams and we played a good first half and they played a good second half."

The Pioneers hit seven three-pointers, including three from Halter, while also connecting on 15-of-18 from the foul line. Marietta outscored the Blue Streaks 60-36 in the second half.

Still, Marietta didn't secure its first lead until 5:34 left in the game when Conner Kilpatrick (Bowling Green/Bowling Green) made a layup to give the Pioneers 71-70 advantage. It didn't last long, though, as Shontz hit consecutive threes to extend JCU's lead to five, 76-71. Shontz finished with 14 points.

"I told the coaches if we could cut the lead to 10 by the 10-minute mark that we would have a chance," VanderWal said. "I looked up at 10 minutes and we were only down by four. I almost couldn't believe it. … Because of the way John Carroll plays I knew we'd have a shot in the second half. I told the guys if they were up by 20 or down by 20 with John Carroll the game isn't over. But realistically I didn't think our chances were too good in the second half."

But the crowd and the Marietta players never stopped believing.

"This is the fourth time this season we've hit a last-second shot to win," Knab said. "Everyone on this team wants to take that shot and I'm OK with all of them taking it. All I know is I was going nuts when Trevor made that shot."

Halter finished with a team-high 21 points in the win. Jason Humphrey (Naples, Fla./Barron Collier) added 15 points, while Joe Puch (Brunswick/Brunswick) (10 points), J.J. Martin (Huntington, W.Va./Huntington) (six rebounds), Tyler Worstell (Prospect/Franklin Heights) (five assists) and Kilpatrick (six points) each provided some quality minutes off the bench.

Mark Hester led the Blue Streaks with 24 points and eight rebounds, while Maurice Haynes added 20 points and five boards.

2001 All-Tournament Team
Trevor Halter, Marietta - MVP
Kevin Knab, Marietta
Maurice Haynes, John Carroll
Corey Shontz, John Carroll
Dane Givner, Heidelberg
Scott Robertson, Capital