TIFFIN, Ohio — Marietta College, ranked 19th in the latest D3hoops.com Men's Basketball Top 25, held off a pesky Heidelberg University squad for a 75-62 win Saturday (Jan. 13) afternoon. The Pioneers improve to 12-3 overall and 6-2 in the Ohio Athletic Conference. Heidelberg falls to 6-9 on the season and 2-6 in the conference.

"I'm proud of our guys for gutting out a tough road win," Marietta head coach Jon VanderWal said. "We didn't play great offensively, but our guys really defended and rebounded well. We were able to make some plays when we needed to down the stretch."

Avery Williams led four Pioneers in double figures scoring a game-high 20 points. The junior hit 8-of-14 shots from the floor and pulled down nine rebounds.

Dillon Young and DeVaughn Wingard finished with 15 points each. Wingard grabbed nine boards, while Young had three steals and two assists. Kyle Dixon added 12 points and four rebounds.

Marietta scored the first eight points of the game and quickly built a 10-point lead, 13-3, when Tim Kreeger hit a pair of free throws with 13:50 left in the first half.

With the Pioneers leading 16-6, Heidelberg got its offense on track and rattled off 10 straight points to tie the game, 16-16, midway through the period. The teams traded small leads the rest of the half and went into halftime tied, 30-30.

Neither team took control of the game through the first 15 minutes of the second half. A jumper from Prince Benson gave the Student Princes a one-point lead, 55-54, with a little more than five minutes remaining.

Williams was fouled on a layup and sank the free throw to complete a three-point play on Marietta's next possession. That triggered a 7-0 Marietta run giving the Pioneers a 61-55 lead.

Heidelberg cut the deficit to five, 64-59, with three minutes left but couldn't get any closer. The Student Princes were forced to foul down the stretch and Marietta hit 5-of-7 free throws pushing the lead into double figures.

Wingard provided the exclamation point with a slam-dunk at the buzzer.

Kiere Bennie led Heidelberg with 16 points. Benson finished with 15 points and seven rebounds.

For the game, Marietta shot 41.0% (25-of-61) from the floor, 22.7% (5-of-22) from three-point range and 66.7% (20-of-30) from the free throw line. The Student Princes were 24-of-66 (36.4%) from the floor, 5-of-27 (18.5%) behind the arc and 9-of-13 (69.2%) at the line.

The Pioneers outrebounded Heidelberg, 46-38. Marietta turned the ball over 16 times, while the Student Princes committed 14 turnovers.

Marietta returns home to host Capital University on Wednesday (Jan. 17). Tip off is set for 7 p.m.