Marietta’s Zaiden Wittekind attempts a jumper against Bloom-Carroll during the River City Classic Sunday at Ban Johnson Arena. (Photo by Mike Morrison)

The Marietta Tigers picked up their second win in three nights in the River City Classic at Ban Johnson Arena with a dominating 60-43 Sunday afternoon over the Bloom-Carroll Bulldogs.

Led by senior Owen Riley’s double-double, the Tigers jumped out to double digit first-quarter lead and never looked back as they improved to 6-2 on the young season.

The Tigers are a rare combination of a team blessed with tons of athletic ability while possessing the energy level to match it and those attributes were on full display in their two games at the Classic.

“Our guys rotate and play hard even though sometimes we are a little undisciplined,” said Tiger head coach Austin Gardner. “When we can play with a motor and play disciplined like we did today we can be a really good basketball team.”

The tenacious Tiger defense presented problems for the Bulldogs from the outset as Marietta forced four turnovers in the first quarter and nine at the half.

Marietta’s Hayleigh Chidester (3) attacks the basket against Fairland during the River City Classic Sunday at Ban Johnson Arena. (Photo by Mike Morrison)

Tiger senior Zaiden Wittekind had the hot hand early on as he knocked down a pair of triples in a row and scored a total of nine points in the first quarter alone as the Tigers pulled out to a 20-9 lead.

Early in the second quarter Bloom-Carroll managed to cut the lead to eight but the Tigers finished the opening half on an 11-2 run to take a comfortable 33-16 lead into the halftime break.

Riley and the Tigers blew things wide open in the third quarter as he scored nine consecutive points for his team as they opened the second half on a 13-4 run.

From that point on Gardner was able to get plenty of playing time for everyone on his bench as the Tigers cruised to the win.

In Friday night’s win over Parkersburg, Tiger freshman Graesyn Moat had the hot hand as he led them in scoring with 21 but on Sunday it was Riley and Wittekind leading the charge for the orange and black.

Riley led all scorers with 22 points and 10 boards while Wittekind finished with 15 points.

“Owen Riley has really stepped up for us, taking charges, rebounding and playing unselfish on offense,” said Gardner. “He kind of set the tone for the entire game for us today and Zaiden (Wittekind) had a great game as well.”

Tigers seniors Trey Hawkins and Logan Grosklos got in on the act with 8 and 7 points respectively.

The Bulldogs were led by Caleb Hinkel with 19 points.

Hinkel was selected as Player Of The Game for the losers while Wittekind and Riley shared the honors for MHS.

The Tigers have played a very tough schedule early on and that won’t change at least in the near future as they travel to Fairbanks Tuesday night.

“We have played a lot of good teams and it certainly doesn’t get any easier this coming week,” said Gardner. “They (Fairbanks) are 8-0 and went 23-2 last year so they are loaded and our guys will need to get some rest and get ready for another big road test on Tuesday.”

Girls: Fairland 72, Marietta 29

In the Sunday night-cap and finale of the three-day River City Classic the Marietta Tigers proved to be no match at all for the Fairland Dragons.

The Dragons came out with a full court press that gave the Tigers all kinds of problems and allowed them to pull out to an early lead before rolling to the 72-29 win.

Marietta turned the ball over 12 times in the first quarter and seven more in the second as they went to the locker room staring at a 21-point deficit.

Things only got worse for the Ali Shane-coached Tigers in the third quarter as the Dragons out-pointed MHS 21-5 to set the running clock into motion.

Addyson Cornell led the way for the Dragons with 21 points while five other Fairland scorers chipped in with seven points or more.

Cornell picked up Player of The Game honors for the Dragons while Marietta’s Fionna Fowler picked up the honor for Marietta.

The Tigers were led in scoring by senior Hayleigh Chidester with 11 points.

Marietta will next travel to Fairbanks on Tuesday night.