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Pioneers ready for Rochester Friday in ‘Sweet 16’

Photo courtesy of Nate Knobel Marietta College’s Dillon Young (1) attempts a jumper during a college men’s basketball game against Guilford last Saturday at Ban Johnson Arena.

At this stage of the D3 NCAA men’s basketball tournament, everything is copacetic in the Marietta College camp.

With wins in rounds 1 and 2 of the tourney last weekend, the seventh-ranked Pioneers (26-4) are hoping that their scheduled Sweet 16 game against the No. 13 University of Rochester Yellowjackets (23-4) Friday at 8 p.m. will be a springboard into an Elite 8 tilt on Saturday.

The Marietta-UR winner will face the top-ranked Whitman (29-0)-Hardin-Simmons (24-6) winner Saturday at 7 p.m.Whitman and Hardin-Simmons lead off Friday at 5 p.m.

“We’re going to have to play our best game of the year the next game,” said 10th-year MC head coach Jon VanderWal after the Pioneers drilled Guilford (N.C) College, 88-64, this past Saturday night. “After that, we’re going to have to play better.The next game on our schedule is going to have to be the best game that we’ve played all year the rest of the way.”

VanderWal paused.

“This group, if we keep our confidence and keep playing like we’ve been playing, they’ve got a chance to make a run to the Final Four and the national championship game,” the coach continued. “That’s our goal.”

Marietta College redshirt sophomore Anthony Wallace agreed and added, “We know this (Sweet 16) is not anywhere near where we want to stop. For me, it’s special. It’s as far as I’ve ever been at Marietta. I’m just taking it all in right now and not taking anything for granted.”

So far, Wallace is averaging 19 points per game in the tourney. He and junior point Keith Richardson shared high-point scoring honors against Guilford. The night before, junior point Dillon Young paced the offense with 21 markers in an 83-66 Pioneer win against Calvin College.

Senior All-American A.J. Edwards leads the navy blue and white cagers, averaging 17.7 points and 8.5 rebounds a game. Kyle Dixon, RaNeal Ewing, and Jack Thome each is averaging nearly 10 ppg.

“We have a lot of weapons,” said VanderWal after the Calvin game. “Dillon went off (Friday night), and Anthony had a great night (19 points).

“It could be a couple of other guys (Saturday night vs. Guilford).”

Prophetic words indeed as MC freshman Caleb Hoyng provided a boost off the pine with a collegiate career-high 14 markers. He was 5-for-5 from the floor, including 4-for-4 from 3-point range.

Interestingly, Hoyng only played three minutes the night before against Calvin.

“For him to have the game that he had tonight (vs. Guilford) is amazing,” VanderWal said. “I couldn’t be happier for him. He’s worked really hard this year.

“As a freshman, it’s not easy. A lot of ups and downs. Probably more downs than there is ups. For him to play on this stage and to make all those shots, it’s pretty incredible.”

No question about it, Marietta has a lot of go-to guys on offense and is long on the bench.

But maybe more impressive, though, has been the Pioneer defense. It’s been fast, furious, and frightfully stifling. Neither Calvin nor Guilford cracked 70 points in the game.

“Y’know with a one- day turnaround, it’s a little bit of a crapshoot, because you don’t get to see your guys practice what you’re trying to work on,” said VanderWal after the Guilford game. “You’re just kind of got to roll the dice. For us and what we did seemed to be pretty effective.”

VanderWal smiled.

“We’ve got a pretty special group this year,” the coach said. “When we’re dialed in, especially the way that we’re defending, we’re pretty good. We’ve got to get better rebounding.”

And, that — rebounding — will definitely be a challenge for MC against Luke Flockerzi-coached Rochester.

The U of R has a 6-foot-10 pivot player in senior Zack Ayers, and he’s pretty darn good. He scored a career-high 26 points in the Yellowjackets’ 82-60 triumph over Union in a second-round game Saturday at Louis Alexander Palestra in Rochester, N.Y.

In Friday night’s NCAA lid-lifter, the Yellowjackets defeated Albertus Magnus College, 89-66.

The thing about Ayers is that he’s got range for a big guy, and is expected to cause mismatches on the perimeter. He drained three triples against the Dutchmen.

Ayers isn’t even Rochester’s leading scorer on the season. 6-3 Sam Borst-Smith is, averaging 16.1 ppg, and right behind him is 6-3 Mack Montague (15.6).

Borst-Smith probably will be guarded by the 6-3 Wallace, who may be Marietta’s best shutdown defender. This matchup might be one to keep an eye on.

Rounding out UR’s starting five is expected to be 6-7 Tucker Knox (6.1 ppg) and 5-11 Jacob Wittig (8.6 ppg). Wittig finished with a double-double with 13 points and 10 assists versus Union.

The Yellowjackets have a solid bench, which tallied 20 points against the Dutchmen. Look for 6-4 Ryan Clamage (7.5 ppg) to be first off the pine.

Clamage collected nine caroms in the second-round game.

Rochester will be competing in the Sweet 16 for the ninth time in its program history, while Marietta is in its third.

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