MC men survive in OT thriller
Marietta College’s cagers needed an extra session to subdue a scrappy Heidelberg University ballclub.
The NCAA D3 eighth-ranked Pioneers outpointed the Student Princes, 18-4, in overtime en route to a 94-80 triumph in an Ohio Athletic Conference Tournament men’s quarterfinal game at Ban Johnson Arena Tuesday night.
Anthony Wallace scored a career-high 29 points to lead Marietta ( 22-4).
“It was a great win,” Wallace said. “A great crowd came out. Heidelberg gave us their best shot and made a few runs. We didn’t handle it well at first.
“But when we went into overtime, it was a new ballgame. We came out and made some big shots to pull it out.”
Keith Richardson added 17 points, while RaNeal Ewing had 10. A.J. Edwards and Dillon Young each netted nine, and Kyle Dixon had eight markers and nine rebounds. Edwards, an All-American, collected a game-high 11 caroms.
Eighth-seeded Heidelberg ( 11-15) was paced by Myron Prewitt, who had a double-double with 14 points and 10 boards. Mike Mason also tallied 14 points, and Chris Moxley had 12, Michael Davis and Alex Arellano chipped in with nine markers apiece.
Sparked by Wallace’s 15 first-half points, Marietta led 44-37. Heidelberg stayed close the entire second half and sent the game into OT on Moxley’s bucket, which tied the score at 76-all with two second left in the fourth quarter.
In overtime, the Pioneers won going away. Dixon converted two freebies to give the home team a two-point lead. But HU came right back and went up 79-78 on a Davis triple.
Marietta tied the score when Wallace made one of two from the line. Rebounding his miss was Dixon, who passed the ball out to the perimeter. Getting it was Wallace who drilled a three to give the Pioneers an 82-79 advantage.
After that, it was all-MC with Edwards scoring a bucket, and Young and Richardson each making two free-throws to make it 88-79.
After a Marietta timeout, Richardson scored to stretch the Pioneer advantage to double digits, 90-79.
Closing out the game at the foul line, Wallace and Richardson each converted two.
“We took care of business, and I thought we played some real good defense in overtime,” said MC head coach Jon VanderWal. “We executed our sets really well.
Marietta is scheduled to play Mount Union in a OAC semifinal game at the BanJo Thursday at 7:30 p.m.
“We can’t play the game (vs. Mount Union) the way we played it tonight,” VanderWal said. “We’re going to have to be a lot better on Thursday.”