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Pios overcame tough stretch, now in ‘Sweet 16’

JORDAN HOLLAND The Marietta Times Marietta College’s Anthony Wallace (3) goes up for a layup during a college men’s basketball game against Guilford Saturday at Ban Johnson Arena.

Set for an 8 p.m. tip-off Friday against No. 13 Rochester in the NCAA Division III Round of 16, the No. 7 nationally-ranked Marietta College men’s basketball team finds itself in the midst of another glorious postseason run.

The road to this point, however, was not quite as smooth for the Pioneers (26-4) as it has been in previous seasons.

After a perfect 7-0 start to the 2016-17 season, Marietta College seemed primed for another dominating campaign.

Two years prior, the Pioneers won their first 21 games of the year and finished the regular season with just two losses. Last year, MC again won 23 of 25 regular season games. Both seasons resulted in national tournament berths, including one appearance in the “Elite Eight.”

So another red-hot November start this year had the team and fans feeling pretty good.

However, the Pioneers entered a stretch from Dec. 10 through Jan. 7 where they lost four of six games, after losing just four regular season games combined over the previous two years. Marietta, with a 9-4 record, dropped to No. 23 in the national rankings. With senior post player Jack Thome out with an injury and the rotation in a bit of a jumble, some fans were left wondering if this Pioneer squad had what it takes to match the success of the teams before it.

“Jack got hurt with the car accident earlier in the year and had to miss some games,” said Marietta College head coach Jon VanderWal. “We lost four out of six games there in the middle stretch of the season over the holidays. We were kind of trying to reconfigure some things and figure some things out.”

After a 101-91 loss to Ohio Northern on Jan. 7, the Pioneers were able to release their frustrations out over the next couple games, defeating Mount Union by 18 points and Heidelberg by 22. Two games later, they beat John Carroll by five to avenge an earlier loss, and Marietta was back on track.

Since, MC has not lost a single game and is riding a 17-game winning streak. VanderWal’s team is two wins away from its first ever “Final Four” appearance in Salem, Va. The veteran Pioneer coach credited the return of Thome and senior wing RaNeal Ewing for helping the team get out of its midseason funk.

“Since Jack has come back, people realize what an impact he had on our team,” VanderWal said.

“He’s been playing some really good basketball lately and he makes our team a lot tougher. Obviously, any time you add an athlete of RaNeal Ewing’s nature to the mix … he rejoined us at semester break and that took a little bit of time to get reacclimated to having RaNeal out there, but the guys have done a great job.”

It doesn’t hurt that starters A.J. Edwards (18.9 points per game), Keith Richardson (15.2 ppg), Anthony Wallace (13.5 ppg), Dillon Young (10.8 ppg) and Kyle Dixon (10.1 ppg) all have played at a high level down the stretch.

“With the addition of Jack and RaNeal, and the rest of the guys being healthy for the most part, we’re kind of clicking on all cylinders right now,” VanderWal said. “I feel really good with where we’re at.”

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