Marietta College's Landry Palata goes up to block the shot of John Carroll's Will Yontek during the Pioneers' 72-65 upset of the No. 23 Blue Streaks on Saturday afternoon inside Ban Johnson Arena. (Photo by Jay W. Bennett)

The calendar turned to February on Saturday and that ended up being a good thing for the Marietta College men’s basketball team of head man Jon VanderWal as the Pioneers used a balanced scoring attack to stun No. 23 John Carroll, 72-65, inside Ban Johnson Arena in an Ohio Athletic Conference showdown.

Trying to keep pace in the OAC standings to finish in the top six and earn a berth into the tournament, the Pioneers (10-9, 4-8) snapped a three-game slide as the Blue Streaks (14-5, 9-3) held the lead for just 15 seconds in the first half.

“Well, I don’t think a whole lot was working. We shot 32% or something like that,” admitted coach VanderWal of his squad making just 8 of 25 after intermission as they had built a 42-28 advantage. “If we just could’ve made a few more shots we could’ve opened it up. We knew John Carroll would come back and fight

“We weathered the storm, stayed tough and got some stops down the stretch that we needed to get. I don’t care who we were playing. We needed a win. It’s nice to win this one against a rival in John Carroll and a ranked team. We’re just so happy to have a win. This has got to be some positive momentum moving forward for us.”

Frank Waganfeald, De’Ovion Price and Danny Flood shared game-high point honors with 14 apiece. Jack Main, who had six rebounds along with teammate Jake Singleton, finished with 13 points. He also had a pair of steals along with Pioneers Jayden Bradshaw and Darius Carden, who had a team-high four assists.

Marietta College's Jack Main, right, ties up John Carroll's Will Yontek as teammate Jayden Bradshaw helps out during the Pioneers' 72-65 upset of the No. 23 Blue Streaks on Saturday afternoon inside Ban Johnson Arena. (Photo by Jay W. Bennett)

“I mean we just all bought in as a team,” stressed Main, who watched MC win the turnover (11-8) and rebounding (40-39) battles. “First things first, all glory to Jesus Christ. This is what we do as a team. We come together and we knew we were capable of doing something like this. We just put it all together today for 40 minutes. All week these guys have been going to practice and we don’t care who makes the play.

“We wanted to get back to what we were doing at the beginning of the year moving the ball, sharing it and getting our high assists. They were telling me in the huddle I’m going to find you and when I get it to you knock it down, and that’s just what we did today as a unit. We all looked out for each other”

The Pioneers, who took the lead for good at 10-8 thanks to a Price 3 via a Landry Palata dime, had 14 assists on their 24 makes.

JCU, which received 12 points apiece from Henry Raynor, Will Yontek and Brandon Rose, only trailed 33-26 with 1:52 left in the half following a bucket by David Gentry, but the Pioneers were able to go up by 14 after getting a trifecta apiece from Main, Flood and Waganfeald.

A Price skip pass that resulted in a Carden 3 with 9:24 remaining had the Blue Streaks in a 57-45 hole, but the visitors used a trio of triples from Rose to help start a rally.

Marietta College head coach Jon VanderWal talks with an official about a call during the Pioneers' 72-65 upset of No. 23 John Carroll on Saturday afternoon inside Ban Johnson Arena. (Photo by Jay W. Bennett)

Following a putback by Yontek, who doubled-doubled thanks to a game-high 10 caroms, and a lay-in by Raynor the Blue Streaks of head coach Pete Moran were within two, 67-65, with 68 seconds to go.

However, Flood converted both ends of the 1-and-1 to make it a two-possession game with 48.7 left as the visitors didn’t score again.

Although John Carroll owned a 36-22 edge in the paint, the Pioneers had a narrow 26-20 advantage in bench scoring and also held an 8-0 edge on fastbreak points.

Chase Toppin and Luke Frazier, who had a game-high five assists, scored nine points apiece in the setback. Raynor had a game-high four blocks and Palata swatted a pair.

Marietta College, which will try and start a winning streak of its own after snapping JCU’s 11-game run, returns to action on Wednesday at Otterbein.

Marietta College's Jake Singleton drains a 3 over the outstretched arm of John Carroll's Luke Frazier as teammate Jack Main looks on during the Pioneers' 72-65 upset of the No. 23 Blue Streaks on Saturday afternoon inside Ban Johnson Arena. (Photo by Jay W. Bennett)