Jan. 20, 2007
MARIETTA, Ohio — Sophomore guard Isaiah Creasap (Wooster/Northwestern) made sure that the Marietta College men's basketball team would start off the second half of the Ohio Athletic Conference season on the right track by scoring a career-high 34 points to lead the Pioneers to a 72-68 upset of No. 8 Ohio Northern Saturday (Jan. 20) afternoon on Fenton Court. [Box Score]

The win, Marietta's first over Ohio Northern in since 2003-04, improved the Pioneers' record to 5-12, 1-9 in the OAC. The Polar Bears fall to 13-4 overall and 6-4 in the OAC. ONU has now split their last six games after beginning the year 10-1.

Creasap was on target early and often and combined with high school teammate junior forward Kyle Reed (Burbank/Northwestern) to score Marietta's first 15 points; Creasap had eight and Reed seven in the first five minutes to help the Pioneers take a 15-8 lead.

A jumper by junior Matt Phillips (Williamson, W.Va./Tug Valley) extended Marietta's lead to 12 points, 26-14, with 8:58 to go in the half. Ohio Northern, led by eight points from Ryan Lee, followed with a 20-6 run over the next 6:21 to take a short-lived, two-point lead, 34-32. However, a Creasap jumper led to seven unanswered points for the Pioneers, allowing them to take a 39-34 lead into intermission.

Marietta finished the half 14-of-24 (.583) from the field and 5-of-8 (.625) from long range. Creasap himself was 6-of-7 overall and 4-of-4 from deep. Ohio Northern also had its shots falling early, shooting 14-of-27 (.519) in the first 20 minutes.

The second half was tight throughout, with Marietta holding onto the lead the entire stanza. The Pioneers' largest lead of the frame was seven points, 60-53, before the Polar Bears clawed back to within a basket, 62-60, with 2:40 remaining. Two minutes later, MC held a 68-66 advantage with 23 seconds left after ONU's Greg Badenhop nailed a deep three-pointer.

The Polar Bears, forced to foul, sent Creasap to the line and he hit both to put the lead back to four points. A tip-in by Lee cut the lead back to two points with 10 seconds left, but Creasap nailed two more from the line to seal the deal and give Marietta a 72-68 win.

Overall, the Pioneers finished 23-of-49 (.469) from the field, including 8-of-16 (.500) from deep. Marietta, who dominated the boards, 37-26, connected on 18-of-26 (.692) free throws and overcame 20 turnovers. Ohio Northern shot 24-of-57 (.412) from the floor but just 5-of-16 (.313) from long range. It also hit 15-of-20 (.750) from the line and had 14 turnovers.

Creasap, the OAC's top three-point artist, finished 11-of-15 overall, including 7-of-9 from beyond the arc. His 34 point-effort was the most a Pioneer has scored since Chad Sponseller went for 36 points at Baldwin-Wallace on Jan. 29, 2005.

Reed was the only other Marietta player in double figures. He had 11 points to go along with six rebounds. Phillips and sophomore Tyler Morando (Wheeling, W.Va./Wheeling Central) each added nine points, while senior Matt Rucker (Proctorville/Chesapeake) pulled down a game-high nine rebounds to add to his six points.

Ohio Northern was paced by Kyle Gehle, who finished with 17 points. Lee ended his afternoon with 15 points and Jake Cannon contributed 15. Badenhop, who entered averaging 16.3 points, was held to just 3-of-12 shooting and nine points.

Marietta will look to build upon the victory Wednesday (Jan. 24) at Otterbein. The Cardinals won the first meeting, 61-55, on December 6. The game will be carried live on WMOA-AM 1490 and online [http://pioneers.marietta.edu/onlinebroadcasts.html]. Tip-off is 7:30 p.m.

Sophomore Isaiah Creasap's career-high 34 points output sparked Marietta's 72-68 upset of No. 8 Ohio Northern Saturday afternoon

Box Score