MARIETTA, Ohio — No. 16 Marietta College cruised to a 20-point victory over Capital University Wednesday (Feb. 5) evening in Ban Johnson Arena. The Pioneer improve to 17-3 overall and 11-2 in the Ohio Athletic Conference. The Crusaders fall to 11-9 on the season and 7-6 in the conference.

"Capital is really well coached. Coach Goodwin does an amazing job with them and they're going to play hard night in and night out," Marietta head coach Jon VanderWal said. "We never really got comfortable out there but we made enough plays to get it done."

Marietta opened the game strong and forced an early Capital timeout at the 17:38 minute mark of opening half. The Pioneers led 7-3 behind strong post play from Tim Kreeger as he had four of the seven points.

Out of the timeout, Marietta continued increase its lead and stretched out a 15-5 edge, which forced a Crusader timeout just over six minutes into the game. The run was well rounded as Jason Ellis, Kreeger, Mason Lydic, and Christian James all had buckets.

The Pioneers continued to pull away through the middle of the half with a 14-4 run that spanned five minutes of play, and saw the lead swell to 33-17. The run was propelled by Kreeger and Lukas Isaly as they each had six points during the spurt.

The Pioneers closed out the half and with buckets from Jalen Grieser and James, and Marietta entered the intermission, ahead 42-26.

Capital battled their way back into the game as they outscored the Pioneers 11-5 early in the second half to trim the advantage to 47-37, four minutes into the half. The Crusaders continued to play well and cut the Marietta edge to single digits, 50-43, with 13 minutes to play in the game.

"It just felt like we could really never get in the flow and pull away and get some momentum," VanderWal said. "It was a little bit of a struggle all night. But then you look at the stats and we did some really good things."

Later in the second half a 12-2 run from the Pioneers put Marietta on top 66-50 at the 6:43 minute mark of the half. The run was sparked by Isaly and Kreeger as they had six and five points respectively.

The Pioneers finished the final six plus minutes strong to close out the game. Marietta won the game, 82-62.

The Pioneers were led by Isaly and Kreeger as the duo each tallied 18 points. Isaly had a career high five assists. Caleb Hoyng pitched in 10 rebounds and nine points in the game.

Ganiyu Yahaya led the Crusaders with 15 points. Reed Bradfield and Cameron Caldwell each scored 11 points, while Tyler Schreck had a double-double with 10 points and 10 boards.

Marietta will return to the hardwood Saturday (Feb. 8) when they host Ohio Northern University on Winter Weekend. Tip-off is set for 3 p.m.