Written by: Zachary Worstell (zdw001@marietta.edu)
Andy Bucheit enters his first season as the Marietta College’s men’s basketball head coach. He’s spent the past twelve seasons with Heidelberg University finishing 17-10 last year. He looks to improve on the Pioneers 11-14 record last season and utilize the team’s three senior players. Thus far the Pioneers are 4-3.
The season began November 7th in Collegeville, Pennsylvania at the Ursinus Bear Bash Tip-Off Tournament. First, Marietta faced Misericordia University. The Pioneers held the lead for most of the game, however fell down at the end of the first half 44-42. In the second half, they came firing back and won 89-81.
The Pioneers went back and forth versus the host Ursinus College. The Bears pulled away at the end of the first for a 51-47 lead. The Pios came back and pulled away with the lead halfway through the second, 72-66. To the Pioneers detriment, the Bears had a trio of layups in the final two minutes to tie the game 86 all.
In overtime the Pios and Bears traded free throws, with the Pioneers having a 98-97 lead with 25 seconds left. Ending the game? A Trenton Collins layup for a Pioneer 100-97 victory.
The following week Marietta hosted their own tournament the 54th annual Marietta Shrine Tournament. In the first round, California Lutheran defeated Manchester University 107-93 and Marietta defeated La Roche University 100-86.
La Roche defeated Manchester in the consolation game 87-74 while Marietta and Cal Lutheran moved on to the finals. The game came down to the wire, as Cal Lutheran came back from a 13-point deficit within the final minute. However, they a failed three-point attempt kept the Pioneers in the lead as they won 83-82.
Up 4-0, Marietta traveled to Washington, Pennsylvania for the Great Lakes Invitational. Marietta suffered their first loss of the season here versus Trinity University (TX). In a game of two lopsided halves, the Pioneers and Tigers moved into overtime. Marietta started overtime with a three-point shot, however, Trinity doubled that and won OT 86-81.
The Pios did not fare better versus the hosting Trine University. Trine blew out Marietta in both halves and won 86-55.
Marietta’s losing streak continued on their next game on the road versus Wittenberg University. The Pioneers and Tigers battled back and forth with the Pios having the edge at the half 32-30. However, Wittenberg came out of the half firing on all cylinders. They gained an early advantage and never let up. This resulted in Marietta losing 72-55.
The team goes on Thanksgiving break this weekend with a 4-3 record. They will be back next Wednesday in their first Ohio Athletic Conference game of the season. They’ll visit Baldwin Wallace on December 3rd at 7:00 p.m. with the game live on Flo College Sports.
The men’s basketball team’s next appearance in the Ban Johnson arena is not until 2026. Marietta will host Wilmington on Saturday January 3rd at 1:00 p.m. To keep up with Marietta basketball visit Men’s Basketball – Marietta College Athletics.
