Marietta’s Trey Hawkins (3) goes up for a basket during Friday’s game against International Sports Academy. (Photo by Jordan Holland)

Heading into Friday evening’s game versus the International Sports Academy at Sutton Gymnasium, the Marietta Tiger Class of 2026 had been a part of a whopping 71 victories on the hardwood.

The Tigers’ seven seniors celebrated their Senior Night in front of a jam-packed crowd with victory No. 72 as they defeated ISA 68-50 to improve to 18-3 on the season.

Lucas Miller, Trey Hawkins, Logan Grosklos, Owen Riley, Kobe Alexander, Zaiden Wittekind and Braiden Plaugher make up the senior class. They all got the opportunity to play one more regular season game on their home court.

Tiger head coach Austin Gardner began his four-year tenure as head coach the same time as the seven and had high praise for the group.

“I’m sitting there with all of their names being announced and it’s not only emotional for those guys but it is for me too,” said Gardner, “Having these guys for four years and seeing them grow up a little bit, I couldn’t be prouder of what they have become and I’m thankful for those guys — they do more for me than I have for them.”

Marietta’s Owen Riley (14) goes up for a basket during Friday’s game against International Sports Academy. (Photo by Jordan Holland)

After the Tiger seniors and their parents were honored prior to the game along with the senior cheerleaders, marquettes and wrestlers, they went to battle against an ISA squad that gave them a bit of a battle early on.

ISA scored the first four points of the game before Riley knocked down a triple to get MHS on the scoreboard.

Hawkins came up with a steal and a bucket to put the Tigers in front and Riley followed with a two-pointer.

Later in the quarter Riley and Grosklos knocked down three-pointers as the Tigers built a 15-11 lead at the end of the first quarter.

Marietta began to kick things into high gear in the second quarter and once again it was Riley leading the charge as he scored all but two points in an 8-0 MHS run to begin the second quarter that increased their lead to 12.

ISA put together a 7-2 run that cut the lead back to seven before once again Marietta went on a 10-0 run to increase their lead to 17. Riley scored four points and Hawkins added six to account for all 10 points.

ISA managed to shave two points off of the Tiger lead before intermission when Baptiste Huyghues came up with a steal and beat the buzzer with a lay-up to cut the Tiger lead to 35-20 at the intermission.

Riley had a huge first half as he scored 20 of the Tigers 35 points.

Marietta led by 17 at the end of the third quarter and then pushed their lead to over 20 when they opened the final quarter with a Grosklos triple and a two-pointer by Riley.

Gardner was able to get plenty of playing time for his seniors as well as the rest of his deep roster the rest of the way.

Riley finished the night with team highs in points with 30, rebounds with 10 and steals with five while also dishing out three assists.

His senior season has been a reward for the hard work he has put in over his four years in the program.

“Owen had a big night and he has had a great senior season and he just continues to get better,” said Gardner of Riley. “Every year he starts a little slow coming from football and then all of the sudden five games in he’s really, really good. He’s consistent scoring, he rebounds, he takes charges, he’s stayed level-headed and just means so much to our team.”

Hawkins chipped in with 13 points in his second game back after missing a substantial amount of time due to an injury.

Grosklos also added 13 including three from behind the arc. Gardner feels like Grosklos is perhaps the most improved player among his seniors as his hard work has paid huge dividends in his senior year.

“Logan (Grosklos) has come a long way — I think his freshman and sophomore years he never made a three-point shot in a game,” said Gardner. “He’s worked and worked and continued to get better and now he might be the best shooter on our team.”

Averaging 18 wins a season is no easy task and Gardner feels like that is a reward for an incredible amount of time and work put in by his seven seniors.

“That’s just a testament to what time and effort and hot summers being here and individual workouts can do,” said Gardner. “Our job as a coaching staff is to get them to reach potential that they didn’t think was possible and that doesn’t always guarantee wins but it gives them a chance to be successful and this group has been.”

While the senior accolades are nice, the Tigers feel like they are far from finished as they prepare to open tournament play in a few weeks.

The Tigers will get a true test Tuesday night when they travel to New Concord to take on a John Glenn team that is 19-1 on the season.

“I think the big thing about our program has been you don’t have to get ready if you stay ready and I think our guys have done that,” said Gardner. “We’re coming down the stretch here now and hopefully we can play several more weeks of basketball.”