TIFFIN, Ohio – Heidelberg University knocked off No. 16 ranked Marietta College by the score of 85-68 Saturday (Feb. 22) afternoon in the regular season finale for both schools. The loss drops Marietta to 20-5 overall and 14-4 in the Ohio Athletic Conference. Heidelberg improves to 11-14 on the season and 9-9 in conference games.

"We got out-toughed today," Marietta head coach Jon VanderWal said. "We will need to turn things around quickly and get ready for the OAC Tournament on Tuesday."

The Pioneers will be the No. 2 seed in next week's conference tournament. Heidelberg earned the No. 5 seed. Mount Union won the regular season championship and will be the top seed in the tournament.

The teams swapped buckets in the opening minutes as the game was tied or the lead changed hands nine times in the first six minutes of action. Marietta held a slim 12-11 edge at the 14:35 mark. The early Pioneer offense came from Lukas Isaly as he scored five of the 12 Marietta points.

Heidelberg went on an 8-0 run to build a 19-12 advantage with 11:29 left in the first half. The Student Princes would not relinquish its lead the rest of the afternoon. Marietta halted the HU run with a pair of free throws from Tim Kreeger.

The Pioneers closed to within four points, 30-26, on a layup from Jake Montgomery with seven minutes left to play. But Heidelberg answered with a 10-2 run pushing the margin to 12 points, 42-30, at the 2:10 mark. The Student Princes led 45-32 at the intermission.

Marietta came out of the locker room ready to play as they opened the second half on a 10-2 run that trimmed the Student Prince lead to 47-42. The run was sparked by four points from Mike Hall and was capped by a three from Caleb Hoyng.

The game remained tight through the middle of the second half. The Pioneers cut the deficit to two points, 54-52, on a jumper from Kyle Matoszkia with just over 12 minutes remaining in the game. Heidelberg answered once again scoring the next nine points on its way to a 13-1 run that spanned three plus minutes of action, and led 67-53.

Heidelberg had an answer for anything the Pioneers threw at them and maintained a double-digit lead the rest of the game. The Student Princes led by as many as 20 points in the final minutes before securing the 85-68 victory.

Hoyng notched his fifth double-double of the season with 14 points and 11 rebounds. Isaly led Marietta with a game-high 19 points to go along with three assists. Mason Lydic added a spark off the bench with 12 points, four steals and three boards.

Emmanuel Perdue led five Student Princes in double figures with 17 points. Josh Dixon finished with 16 points, while Dylan Woods and Tamal Watkins scored 15 and 13 points, respectively. Curt Jacobs added 11 points.

Marietta will be back in action Tuesday (Feb. 25) when they host Wilmington College in the Quarterfinals of the OAC tournament. Tip-off is scheduled for 8 p.m.