MARIETTA, Ohio – The 10th ranked Marietta College men's basketball team was in action Saturday (Jan. 26) when they hosted John Carroll University inside Ban Johnson Arena. The Pioneers defeated the Blue Streaks, 108-92. With the win, Marietta improves to 17-2 overall and 11-1 in Ohio Athletic Conference play. John Carroll falls to 8-11 overall and 4-8 in OAC action.
"We've struggled to shoot it all year, especially from the three," Marietta head coach Jon VanderWal said. "But the last couple of games we're starting to see the ball go in the hoop. This was a heck of a college basketball game. For them to hit 16 threes and us to hit 18 threes it was a shootout. We couldn't pull away.
The teams were tied at five points apiece early in the first before the Pioneers went on a 10-0 run forcing a Blue Streak timeout. The run was started by a Mel Shuler layup and capped by a three from Anthony Wallace.
Out of the timeout, John Carroll responded with an 11-2 run trimming the Marietta margin to 17-16, at the 12:52 mark of the first half. Tim Kreeger halted the JCU run when he converted a layup and put the Pioneers up, 19-16. The Blue Streaks continued to battle back and took a 28-27 advantage with just under nine minutes to play in the half.
Late in the half Marietta pulled away with a 9-0 spurt that saw them take a 51-36 advantage with a minute to play in the opening period. John Carroll ended the half with a three-pointer from Connor Fitzgerald at the buzzer. While the shot was in the air, the Pioneers were whistled for a technical foul and Sean Flannery converted a pair of free throws cutting the deficit to 53-44 at the intermission.
The Blue Streaks kept the momentum in the second half. John Carroll closed to within one, 73-72, eight minutes into the period. Back to back three-pointers from Kyle Dixon and Caleb Hoyng pushed the lead back to seven, 79-72.
At the 8:52 mark of the second half after securing an offensive rebound Dixon converted a layup and gave the Pioneers an 81-76 lead. The basket by Dixon gave him 17 points in the game, but more importantly was his 1000th career point at Marietta College. He is the 34th Pioneer to reach 1000 points in program history, and the eighth player under Coach VanderWal.
"Kyle has been going through a little bit of a scoring drought lately. He's been in the gym every day working on it and I told him he just needs to stop caring so much and let it rip," VanderWal said. "He's had some really good games recently and you can tell by the way he plays the game when he's really feeling it. And you could see he had it going tonight."
Marietta was able to gain some breathing room with a 9-1 run that saw them take a 99-82 edge with two and a half minutes to play. The run was sparked by Jason Ellis as he had six of the nine points on the run.
Lukas Islay and Wallace hit a couple of threes late in the game to close out the win. Marietta won, 108-92.
The Pioneers were led by Dixon as he had 20 points, on 80 percent shooting from behind the arc, and also grabbed nine rebounds. Wallace pitched in with 18 points in the game, as he knocked down six three pointers. Ellis added 16 points for the Marietta offense.
JCU's Jimmy Berger led all scorers with 22 points. Ryan Berger finished with 18 points, while Flannery sank five three-pointers and added 17 points. Luke Hippler chipped in with 12 points and a team-high five rebounds.
The Pioneers eclipsed the 100-point plateau for the second time this season.
For the game, Marietta shot 55.4% (36-of-65) from the floor, 51.4% (18-of-35) from three-point range and 85.7% (18-of-21) at the free throw line. The Blue Streaks were 30-of-58 (51.7%) from the floor, 16-of-33 (48.5%) behind the arc and 16-of-22 (72.7%) at the line.
The Pioneers dominated the boards outrebounding John Carroll by 20, 42-22. Marietta turned the ball over 14 times in the game, while the Blue Streaks committed 13 turnovers.
Marietta travels to Bexley on Wednesday (Jan. 30) to take on Capital University. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m. between the two teams tied for first place in the OAC standings.