MARIETTA, Ohio — Marietta coach Jon VanderWal has seen some amazing individual performances over the years, especially at Ban Johnson Arena.

What he saw from senior guard Lukas Isaly on Saturday night had the veteran coach shaking his head and smiling.

Isaly, who was held scoreless in the first half, found his groove and poured in 33 points to lead the second-ranked Pioneers to an 88-83 overtime victory over Rochester (18-9) in the second round of the NCAA Division III Men's Basketball Tournament at Marietta College's Ban Johnson Arena on Saturday evening.

"I probably recruited Lukas Isaly about as hard as anybody. (I'd) go see him play at River and he wasn't playing the greatest competition, so we think he's pretty good but we're not sure," VanderWal said. "Then I came to a game they played here his senior year against Bishop Ready out of Columbus and he had 41 (points). I was like, yeah, he's good enough. He's a gamer. He's a big-time player. He doesn't shy away from the big moments. He just kept delivering."

Isaly picked up his second foul with 6:12 to play in the first half, and had to sit until the second half. With him on the bench, Rochester outscored Marietta 11-5 to take a 32-31 lead into intermission.

Frustrated, Isaly opened the second half with 3-point basket and his scoring barrage was about to be unleashed. Down 43-40, he responded with back-to-back 3-pointers to give Marietta a 46-43 lead.

"Going into the half, all the guys said the second half is going to be your half," said Isaly, a first team All-Ohio Athletic Conference selection. "I always tell myself once I see one go in that I'll start building some confidence."

Isaly made only 9 of 23 shots, but he made six 3-pointers and made 9 of 10 from the foul line — including eight points in overtime.

VanderWal liked the moxie his squad showed down the stretch to pull out the win.

"If you're going to make a run at a national championship, you're going to have to have some miracle games like that," he said. "You're going to have to have some guys step up and play out of their mind. That's what happens and today was a step in that direction."

Isaly said having five seniors is a big plus in tight games, but he also feels Marietta prepares for big games by playing a tough schedule.

"The schedule absolutely prepared us for this," Isaly said. "Credit to (the coaches) for scheduling teams like Randolph Macon, Christopher Newport and then we have teams in our conference like Mount Union and Heidelberg. Those kinds of wins and those kinds of teams help us prepare for moments like these. A lot of it comes from the confidence the coaches and players have in each other."

And Marietta (27-2) needed this type of game from Isaly because the Yellowjackets bottled up senior guards Jason Ellis (10 points) and Mason Lydic (eight points).

"We knew going into the game their length was going to cause us some issues. Unfortunately, as good as our guards are, they are a little undersized," VanderWal said. "We're really strong and physical, but all three of them are under 6-feet tall. We knew their length would pose some issues, which is also why Tim Kreeger comes in super big because he gave us a low-post presence in the first half. But he's so good at flowing into what we call our quick actions with these guys."

Kreeger battled in the post all game with Rochester's Brian Amabilino Perez and they matched each other with 15 points.

"It was pretty physical," Amabilino Perez said. "We went after it. The refs were trying to talk to us and manage the situation, but it was fun and it was competitive."

The Pioneers also turned to junior Sahmi Willoughby to combat the size disadvantage and he delivered big-time on the boards with 12 rebounds and 13 points.

"Coach always says the most important statistic is rebounding and I'm the rebounding guy," Willoughby said. "It just felt good after not playing yesterday, so it sparked me and it gave me that rest to do better this game. I had the energy."

Marietta also got a boost from a partisan crowd that got loud in the second half and overtime.

"I don't think we're still playing without them," Willoughby said.

Rochester outscored Marietta in the paint (40-28), but the Yellowjackets could never extend its lead to any bigger than three points.

Ross Gang led the Yellowjackets with 22 points, while Matt Wiele had 12 points and six rebounds and Trent Noordsij had 11 points and five rebounds.

"We really haven't had a lot of games where we've been down," Noordsij said. "This team is always fighting, and except for maybe one game this year, we've been in every game down the stretch. We've had a lot of resolve and lot of keeping our heads up."

Rochester coach Luke Flockerzi was proud of his team's performance.

"We came up short tonight," he said. "I think we knew we were really good. I think we play in a phenomenal basketball league that challenges us every night and we challenge each other to get better. … We've been in tough environments and we've played tough teams and this group had a lot of confidence."

The Yellowjackets impressed VanderWal.

"(Rochester) is one of the most disciplined teams. They probably execute better than anybody we've ever played," he said. "But I also want to give (my team) credit because we had one film session and a one-hour shootaround/walk-through and I don't think we got beat on one backdoor today. Not one, I don't think. We guarded them really well even though they scored 83 points. It was a close game because they are really stinking good."

The last time these two programs tangled was a Sweet 16 matchup on March 10, 2017, in Marietta. The Yellowjackets upset the Pioneers 85-80 in front of a crowd of 1,639 in Ban Johnson.

"It felt a lot like 2017. It was the exact same kind of game," VanderWal said. "Fortunately for us, this year, our guys just made the plays."

Marietta advances to the Sweet 16 for the fifth time in 12 years, and will face Oswego State (27-2) on Friday. The location of the next round will be announced Sunday. Oswego advanced with an 84-63 victory over Keene State.