MARIETTA, Ohio — The capacity crowd inside Ban Johnson Arena was rocking as Marietta College, ranked No. 8 nationally, knocked off No. 3-ranked John Carroll University 86-81 Saturday (Feb. 13) afternoon in a battle for first place in the Ohio Athletic Conference men's basketball standings.

With the victory, Marietta takes over sole possession of first place in the OAC with a 15-1 league record. The Pioneers are 21-2 overall with two regular season games remaining next week. John Carroll slips into second place with a 14-2 conference record. The Blue Streaks are 21-2 overall after dropping a pair of games this week.

A year ago it was Marietta which started the season 21-0 before getting knocked off twice in a row on the road by Mount Union and John Carroll. This winter John Carroll cruised to a 21-0 start before rival Baldwin Wallace clipped them on Wednesday in University Heights.

Four Pioneers scored in double figures today as A.J. Edwards led all scorers with 21 points. Edwards was also one of four Pioneers to grab eight rebounds in the game. Luis Garcia finished with 19 points, while Anthony Wallace chipped in with 14 and Brennan McKean added 10 points and eight boards. Dillon Young and Eddy Grenert both pulled down eight boards as well.

Danny Wallack hit four three-pointers and paced the Blue Streaks with 20 points. Antonio Vuyancih also hit four triples and scored 16 points, while Simon Kucharewicz notched a double-double with 10 points and 11 rebounds.

David Linane, who scored 27 against Marietta earlier in the season and is JCU's leading scorer on the season, was limited to five points. Linane was still involved in the Blue Streak attack dishing out a game-best six assists.

As expected when two Top-10 teams meet, the game was close for the entire 40 minutes. Neither team led by more than nine points and the outcome was in doubt until the final seconds.

After trading small leads through the first 12 minutes of the game, Marietta went on an 13-0 run to turn a four-point deficit into a nine-point lead, 34-25, with 6:46 left in the first half.

Edwards started the run with an old-fashioned three-point play.  Three-pointers from Grenert and Young followed and then Garcia capped the run with a pair of free throws.

John Carroll chipped away at the Pioneer lead and went ahead, 42-40, on a layup from Linane at the 1:39 mark. MC finished the half on a 6-2 run to take a two-point lead, 46-44, into halftime. Marietta would not trail again.

Wallack drained three-pointer early in the second half to knot the game at 55. Marietta scored on the ensuing possession and stayed in front the rest of the way. The Pioneers pushed their advantage back to nine points, 68-59, on a Wallace layup with 12:16 left in the game.

The Pioneers appeared to put the game away when Edwards converted his second three-point play of the afternoon with a layup and free throw to give Marietta a six-point edge, 84-78, with 54 seconds left on the clock.

Despite getting four shots on its next possession, John Carroll failed to score and was forced to foul. The Pioneers missed both free throws with 25 seconds left breathing life into the Blue Streaks. Following a Pioneer timeout, Vuyancih drained a three-pointer cutting the margin to three, 84-81, with nine ticks left on the clock.

Once again the Streaks were forced to foul, but this time Young, a 93% free throw shooter, hit both to seal the victory for the Navy Blue and White.

For the game, Marietta shot 38.0% (27-of-71) from the floor, 23.5% (8-of-34) from three-point range and 66.7% (24-of-36) at the line. The Blue Streaks were 28-of-74 (37.8%) from the floor, 10-of-33 (30.3%) behind the arc and 15-of-19 (78.9%) at the line.

The Pioneers edged John Carroll on the glass, 51-50. The Blue Streaks turned the ball over 14 times, while Marietta committed 12 turnovers.

Marietta travels to Otterbein University on Wednesday (Feb. 17) for a 7:30 p.m. tip off.