Jan. 24, 2007
WESTERVILLE, Ohio — Fresh off its biggest win in recent history, the Marietta College men's basketball team looked to make it two in a row in the Ohio Athletic Conference with a victory at Otterbein College Wednesday (Jan. 24) evening. For the second time this season, the Pioneers gave the Cardinals all that they could handle but could not pull off the upset. In this match-up, Otterbein overcame a three-point halftime deficit to earn a 78-69 victory. [Box Score]

The win improves the Cardinals record to 10-8 overall and 6-5 in the OAC. The Pioneers fell to 5-13, 1-10 in the league.

Sophomore Isaiah Creasap (Wooster/Northwestern), back on the floor for the first time since his career-high 34-point performance against Ohio Northern, had his shots falling early. The OAC's leading three-point shooter and reigning Player of the Week, nailed two from deep to give Marietta an early 6-0 advantage and finished the first half with 20 points on 7-of-9 from the floor and 5-of-6 from long range. Riding the shoulders of Creasap, Marietta, who shot 16-of-26 (.615) in the first 20 minutes, was able to take a 41-38 lead into intermission.

Otterbein limited Creasap, who finished with 25 points, to just 2-of-6 from the floor in the second half and wore down Marietta on the boards to help it claim the nine-point win.

With the score 56-56, tied for the 12th time in the game, at the 11:01 mark, the Cardinals went on a 20-10 run over the next 10 minutes to settle the nerves of the crowd, which was listed as over 1,100.

Marietta finished the game 28-of-54 (.519) from the field, including 9-of-19 (.474) from long range. Otterbein shot 24-of-47 (.511) from the floor, including 4-of-12 (.333) from deep. The difference of the game was in the paint, where Otterbein out rebounded Marietta 36-21, and at the free throw line. The Cardinals hit 26-of-35 (.743) from the stripe, while the Pioneers shot just 4-of-8 (.500).

Senior Matt Rucker (Proctorville/Chesapeake) was Marietta's second scoring option Wednesday. He finished with 10 points. Sophomore Tyler Morando (Wheeling, W.Va./Wheeling Central) added nine points, while junior Matt Phillips (Williamson, W.Va./Tug Valley) pitched in with eight.

Otterbein was led by its star Tyler Ousley, who finished with a game-high 26 points and 18 rebounds. Ryan Kennedy and Adam Wells each added 19 points, while Ross Banaszak had 11 points in the win.

Marietta remains on the road Saturday (Jan. 27) when it visits Wilmington for a 3 p.m. match-up with the Quakers, who won the first meeting of the year, 75-64, on December 9.

Sophomore Isaiah Creasap had 25 points at Otterbein

Box Score