MARIETTA, Ohio – No. 6 ranked Marietta College cruised into the Ohio Athletic Conference Men's Basketball Tournament Championship with a 102-68 win over Wilmington College Thursday (March 4) evening in the semifinal round. The Pioneers improve to 11-1 on the season, while the Quakers finish with a 4-10 record.
Top-seeded Marietta will host fifth-seeded Ohio Northern University, a 81-75 winner over Muskingum in the semifinals, on Saturday at 7 p.m. for the tournament championship.
"Even though we were up 20 at half, I was really concerned about how the second half was going to go. I told our guys we've been here before against Wilmington. Up at the half and then they come out guns blazing in the second half and they're not going to go down without a fight," Marietta head coach Jon VanderWal said. "The first five minutes of the second half were really important and then we were able to open things up more in the next five minutes. I'm really proud of our guys for staying the course and not letting Wilmington get any momentum."
Marietta opened the game on an 11-5 run that spanned the first three minutes of play and forced an early Wilmington timeout. The entire starting lineup of Brett Martin, Tim Kreeger, Lukas Isaly, Jason Ellis and Mason Lydic scored during the run.
Out of the timeout, the Quakers battled back with a quick 5-0 spurt to trim the Pioneers' edge to 11-10. The run was halted by a layup from Kreeger. Later in the half Wilmington made the score 23-21 before Marietta scored seven straight points to stretch its lead to 30-21 and forced another Quaker timeout. The run was highlighted by five points from Sahmi Willoughby, including a three pointer to end the run.
Out of the break, the Pioneers held a 40-29 advantage and then extended their lead to 51-29 behind an 11-0 run. The run was sparked by three-point shooting as Isaly, Ellis and Cooper Parrott all knocked down threes during the run.
The teams battled for the final four minutes of play, and Marietta led 57-37 at the intermission.
The Pioneers opened the second half with six straight points and led 63-37 three minutes into the period. Two buckets came from Kreeger and one from Martin.
After Wilmington answered with six points of their own making the score 63-43, Marietta responded with an 8-0 run to lead 71-43 at the 13:32 minute mark of the half and put the game out of reach. The run was highlighted by a three from Ryan Reidy and capped by a layup from Parrott.
Marietta held a sizeable advantage for the remainder of the game and won 102-68.
The Pioneers had six players in double figures led by Lydic. He had a team-high 13 points on 50 percent shooting from behind the arc. Kreeger pitched in with 12 points and five rebounds in the game. Isaly, Jac Alexander and Willoughby all tallied 11 points, while Isaly dished out a game-high six assists and Willoughby grabbed six rebounds. Parrott added 10 points and six boards.