The Marietta men’s basketball team had a huge sweep this weekend against the #9 ranked Mount Union Raiders. The Raiders were in front of the Pioneers in the OAC rankings before the weekend started. On Friday, Marietta visited Alliance Ohio and showed an immense amount of toughness and made some clutch plays down the stretch to pull out a close battle. The Raiders turned around and entered the Banjo on Saturday, but the story was the exact same. It was a close game with Marietta ending on top with their effective final minute play.
The first matchup Friday consisted of a couple of back and forth runs in the first half. Marietta started the game on a 9-2 run, the Raiders then answered with seven straight points, this continued for the rest of the half when the Raiders had the final run and entered halftime with a score of 48-41.
The score remained close the entire second half, and coming down to the final four minutes, the score was tied up at 70 apiece. The Pioneers put together a clutch 14-3 run to close the game, handing the Raiders their second loss of the season with a final score of 85-77.
Photo by Rebecca Wheeler
Mason Lydic put together a career night pouring in 29 points, connection on 5 of his 7 shots from behind the arc. Also playing well for the Pioneers was Jason Ellis who added 17 points and three threes of his own.
The second matchup was almost the same as the first, it was a game of trading buckets. The first half was an intense battle, as the score was tied nine times in the final six minutes of the half. The Raiders scored the final five points and entered into the halfway point in charge 47-43.
Both teams shot the ball well, but Marietta had the advantage shooting 49% compared to Mount Union’s 47%. However, the Raiders shot a little bit better from behind the arch with 28% while the Pioneers shot 26%.
Marietta had a comfortable 85-72 lead with just under five minutes to play. The Pioneers turned the ball over twice, and Collen Gurley from the Raiders took full advantage and scored 10 points in 90 seconds. Marietta hit their free throws and was able to capture the sweep with a final score of 93-89.
Lukas Isaly led the charge for the Pioneers with 22 points. Lydic had another good performance putting up 19 points. Sophomore Brett Martin also contributed with 15 points.
The 2-0 weekend for the Pioneers bumped them to the number one seed in the OAC with a 7-1 record. Mount Union fell to the number three spot with six wins and three losses.
The Marietta Pioneers have their matchup with the 4-4 Capital Crusaders next weekend.
The Marietta women’s team came up short in their two tough matchups against the Raiders. Both games were intense with a lot of lead changes. Mariettas head coach Kole Vivian stated, “We couldn’t find the stops when we really needed to in the fourth quarter…. We will be better from this weekend.” This weekend’s matchup made the Pioneers 5-5.
Friday, the Raiders entered the Banjo, and it was a back-and-forth battle all night. The Pioneers led at the intermission with a score of 39-37. The second half was just as exciting as the first with various runs and multiple lead changes. Marietta was down by ten, and then made a 7-0 run, which made the score 71-68 with thirty seconds left to play. The Pioneers were unable to capture the lead, falling to the Raiders with a final of 74-68.
The Pioneers had contributions from a variety of people on the team, but leading the team was Hannah Schill with 11 points. Olivia Gribble, Camille Cummins, and Erin Hahn all had 9 of their own.
The first and second quarter consisted of trading buckets until Kate Liston sparked Marietta with 5 points during their 12-2 run with 2 minutes to play in the first half. Entering the halfway point Marietta led 33-24.
The Purple Raiders went on a 10-0 run to start the third quarter which put them up 34-33. The game remained close and was opened up midway through the fourth by the Raiders as they made the score 66-54. Marietta showed fight and came back with a 10-2 run to cut the lead to 70-66 in the final minute. The Raiders were able to hang on and defeat the Pioneers 73-66.
Erin Hahn put together a double double scoring 13 and hauling in 10 rebounds. Olvia Gribble led scoring with 15 points, and Hannah Schill also contributed with 10.
The Marietta Pioneers look to bounce back next weekend when they travel to play a 4-4 Capital team on Friday the 26th.
By Logan Domer
