MARIETTA, Ohio — No. 3 ranked Marietta College extended its winning streak to 15 games with an 84-64 win over Muskingum University Wednesday (Feb. 2) evening in Ban Johnson Arena. The Pioneers move to 17-2 overall and 12-0 in the Ohio Athletic Conference. The Muskies fall to 5-15 overall and 2-11 in the OAC.
"Give Muskingum credit they battled their tails off tonight. They made it really difficult for us offensively and it was a very physical game," Marietta head coach Jon VanderWal said. "I think we wore them down in the second half and executed a lot better. That allowed us to open things up."
After trading small one and two-point leads in the first four minutes of the game, Marietta got a three-point play from Lukas Isaly, a bucket from Cooper Parrott and a three-pointer from Jason Ellis to open a seven-point lead, 13-6.
The Pioneers extended the lead to 11 points, 21-10, on a layup from Brennen Crawford. But Muskingum answered with seven straight points including a dunk from Zaveon Croff and a triple from DJ Donnell cutting the deficit to four, 21-17, mid-way through the half.
Alex Masinelli drained a three-pointer with 3:33 left in the half to get the Muskies within two points, 27-25. Those were Muskingum's final points of the period as Marietta scored the final seven to lead 34-25 at halftime.
Marietta quickly pushed the margin into double digits in the opening minutes of the second half. A three-pointer from Ellis and a couple of layups from Sahmi Willoughby gave the Pioneers a 45-29 lead less than four minutes into the half.
The lead would remain in double figures the rest of the way as Muskingum ran out of gas. Parrott nailed a three-pointer at the 13:47 mark to give Marietta its biggest lead of the night, 22 points, 55-33.
Kreeger led the Pioneers with 20 points. He grabbed nine rebounds and blocked two shots. Ellis and Willoughby both posted double-doubles. Ellis had 18 points and 10 boards, while Willoughby had 12 points and 13 rebounds. Parrott finished with 13 points, while Isaly had 12 points.
Masinelli led all scorers with 22 points to go along with five rebounds. Croff scored 12 points and Donnell had 10 points. Bradley Russel grabbed 10 boards.
Marietta hosts John Carroll University on Saturday (Feb. 5). Tip-off in Ban Johnson Arena is set for 4 p.m.