Marietta College’s David Sanford (4) handles the ball during a college men’s basketball game against Wilmington last season at Ban Johnson Arena. (Times file photo)

For the Marietta College men’s basketball team, there will be no dwelling on what was an extremely successful start to the 2023-24 campaign.

The Pioneers defeated a solid Washington & Jefferson team Friday knocking preseason No. 1 and defending national champion Christopher Newport on Saturday.

“It was a huge weekend for us,” said Marietta head coach Jon VanderWal. “Washington & Jefferson is a big win. They were picked to win the President Athletic Conference, and they’re going to win a lot of games this year. We chose to play them to boost our strength of schedule. It was a tough opening game because they pressured us the whole time which was kind of nerve-wracking for the first game of the year.”

However, the game everyone had circled came the following night, with the top-ranked Captains invading Ban Johnson Arena.

“To have to come back the next day and play the defending national champion, that’s a huge feather in our cap,” VanderWal said. “It’s the first time in school history we’ve beat the No. 1 team in the country, and to do it on our home court in front of our fans made for a great weekend of Marietta College athletics. The football team got a big win that day to finish the season 8-2. It was just a special day. Hopefully we can build off that.”

The 2-0 Pioneers couldn’t have asked for a much better start to the season, but it’s important to stay focused on the next opponent. Marietta will head to Wittenberg to compete in the Great Lakes Invitational.

“I told our guys this coming weekend is more challenging than what we just went through,” VanderWal said. “Calvin is really good. They’re preseason No. 10 in the country. Then we play Illinois Wesleyan which has a ton of size and is always one of the premiere teams in the country. The two opponents we have this weekend are top-notch and both games will require us to play extremely well.”

Following a 2022-23 season that, by Marietta standards, was a bit of a rebuilding year, it was crucial for the Pioneers to have a strong start this season. Another successful weekend in Wittenberg would make a major statement to the rest of the country.

“We’ve been focusing on turning the page,” VanderWal said. “You beat the No. 1 team, you start reading headlines and feeling good about yourself, but it’s really important to stay focused. Teams don’t care who we beat. It’s a new test and we’ve got to rise to the challenge.”

Sahmi Willoughby (16.5 points per game, 8.5 rebounds per game), Cooper Parrott (15.5 ppg, 8.5 rpg) and Frank Waganfeald (13.5 ppg, 11.5 rpg) were Marietta’s top performers on opening weekend. David Sanford, Lovenson Xavier, Jake Singleton De’Ovion Price, Jayden Bradhsaw, Ethan Andersen and Jack Main all were key contributors in the Pioneers’ rotation. Jac Alexander is dealing with a finger injury and missed most of the first two games, but once he’s healthy he’ll see an increase in playing time.

“I think the strength of our team is our depth,” VanderWal said. “We have a lot of guys we can run at you. The biggest area we’ve grown is defensively. This group is buying in to the defensive side of the abll. We’re going to need to be an elite defensive team and a good rebounding team. We’ve got to get a lot better offensively. We’ve been inconsistent and haven’t had a whole lot of flow.

“I think we’ve got a bunch of tough, gritty guys who are going to be fun to watch. I think this group is ready to make a name for themselves.”