MARIETTA, Ohio — Marietta College exploded for 66 points in the second half as the Pioneers cruised to a 103-78 victory Saturday (Jan. 27) afternoon in Ohio Athletic Conference men's basketball action. Marietta improves to 14-5 overall and 8-4 in the OAC. The Quakers fall to 8-11 on the season and 4-8 in conference play.
 
"We had some guys really get it going and scored 66 points in the second half. Wilmington made a lot of shots to keep them in the game, but to our credit, we settled back in and pushed the lead back up," Marietta head coach Jon VanderWal said. "Sahmi (Willoughby) is a double-double machine. Our best offense at times is to shoot it and let Sahmi go get the offensive rebound and put it back in. It also helps when guys like David (Sanford) are making shots."
 
After exchanging small leads through the first 12-plus minutes of the game, Matthew Dugue hit a jumper to tie the game, 19-19, with 7:18 left in the first half. The Pioneers went on a 16-7 run over the next five minutes building a nine-point lead, 36-26. David Sanford drained one of his five three-pointers in the game to cap the Pioneer spurt.
 
Jayden Lewis hit a triple and Dugue added another bucket to cut the Marietta lead to four points. A De'Ovion Price bucket in the final seconds gave the Pioneers a 37-31 lead at halftime.
 
Wilmington cut the deficit to three in the opening minutes of the second half. But the Pioneers quickly responded pushing the lead into double digits, 55-45, on a layup from Jayden Bradshaw five minutes into the second period.
 
Marietta gradually extended its lead. A three-pointer from Sahmi Willoughby at the 12:23 mark gave the Pioneers a 16-point advantage, 68-52.
 
The Quakers refused to go away and promptly answered with a 12-0 run to get within four points, 68-64, midway through the half. The run was highlighted by a thunderous fastbreak dunk from Carson Miles.
 
The Pioneers regrouped and got two baskets from Willoughby and a three-pointer from Jac Alexander to push the margin back into double digits, 77-67, three minutes later. Marietta used an 11-5 run to take control of the game. Sanford scored five of MC's points in the run, including another three-pointer.
 
A Carter McCorkle three-pointer put the Pioneers over 100 points, 101-78, with 34 seconds left on the clock.
 
Sanford led all scorers with 26 points, including 18 in the second half. Wlloughby recorded a double-double for the eighth time in the last nine games with 19 points and 16 rebounds. Alexander and Price each added 12 points.
 
Lewis led four Quakers in double figures with 16 points. Miles finished with 15 points. Dugue and Domenic Farley chipped in with 13 and 11 points, respectively.
 
Marietta is back on the road this Wednesday (Jan. 31) for a 7:00 p.m. game at Capital University.