Pioneers going for OAC tourney title
Marietta College is no stranger to the Ohio Athletic Conference Tournament championship game.
At 7:30 p.m. Saturday at Ban Johnson Arena against sixth-seeded Baldwin Wallace, the top-seeded Pioneers will appear in their fifth OAC tourney title game in the last seven seasons. They’ve won two of those games (2011, 2013) but lost the last two (2015, 2016) and will look to break that trend Saturday.
“This is big for us,” said MC head coach Jon VanderWal following Thursday’s semifinal win over Mount Union. “We haven’t been able to do it the past couple of years and we’ve got to make it happen this year.”
Marietta (23-4) squared off against the Yellow Jackets (15-12) twice this season, winning 84-64 in Berea and later 100-91 at the BanJo.
“Marietta College is really good,” said Baldwin Wallace head coach Tom Heil after the second loss to MC. “Jon does a great job, and he has great players.”
BW upset third-seeded Ohio Northern in the quarterfinals before besting No. 7 Muskingum in the semis Thursday. Marietta defeated Heidelberg, 94-80, in overtime Tuesday and Mount Union, 100-78, to get to the finals.
Dating back to Jan. 7, Marietta has won 14 consecutive games. The Jackets, on the other hand, are looking to extend a five-game winning streak.
Baldwin Wallace is led by Cam Kuhn, who averages 15.6 points per game. Jay Battle is second in scoring with 12.2 points per game and contributes a team-high 3.2 assists per game. Jake Fetheroff is the top rebounder with 9.1 boards a contest and also tallies 11.4 points per game.
Marietta is expected to stick with the starting lineup of Dillon Young (guard), Keith Richardson (guard), Anthony Wallace (wing), Kyle Dixon (wing) and A.J. Edwards (post). RaNeal Ewing (wing) and Jack Thome (post) are the first players off the bench. Edwards and Richardson were named first team All-OAC this week while Young and Wallace were honorable mentions.
A win Saturday will clinch a berth in the NCAA Division III national tournament for the Pioneers, although they likely will get an at-large big even with a loss. Marietta has made the national tournament four times in VanderWal’s tenure and, in 2015, made it as deep as the “Elite Eight.”
Saturday’s game is sold out, which should be an advantage for the Pioneers.
“This is an unbelievable environment especially for D3 basketball and we are pretty fortunate to get to play in it,” VanderWal said.