Jan. 30, 2008
WESTERVILLE, Ohio — Despite losing a 10-point on the road in the final minutes, the Marietta College men's basketball team gutted out a 96-95 win in overtime at Otterbein College Wednesday (Jan. 30) night. The win is the first for the Pioneers over the Cardinals in Westerville since Feb. 2, 2000. With the win Marietta improves its record 6-12 overall and 2-9 in the Ohio Athletic Conference (OAC). Otterbein falls to 4-14 overall and 3-8 in the OAC.

Freshman Jordan Cox (West Union) led six double-digit scorers for Marietta with 21 points, 15 of those points coming from behind the arc. Juniors Isaiah Creasap (Wooster/Northwestern) and Daun Lutes (New Matamoras/Frontier) both scored 16 points. Lutes also collected a game-high 10 rebounds. Matt Kubachka (Shade/Alexander) came off the bench to score 14 points. Jay Chadwell (Georgetown) contributed 11 points, while Adam Rockhold (Olmsted Falls) added 10 points, including the game-winner from the line with three seconds remaining in overtime.

Adam Wells of Otterbein led all scorers with 26 points. Ross Banaszak scored 24 points and had a game-high eight assists. Brian Pollack scored 21 points, and Sean Cross scored 13 points.

The two teams traded baskets for much of the early minutes with Otterbein maintaining the lead. The Cardinals stretched their lead to as many as nine at the 10-minute mark of the first half. Marietta battled back to take a 45-43 lead at intermission. Otterbein regained the lead early in the second half and built the advantage back up to seven. Marietta used a 19-9 run to go up by five with 8:30 left in the game. From there, Marietta stretched the lead up to 10 with five minutes left. Otterbein again fought back to tie the score at 85-85 at the end of regulation thanks to a trio of free throws from Wells with 26 seconds to go.

The Cardinals started the extra stanza on a 5-0 run before Chadwell hit a three to cut the lead to two. The Chadwell basket sparked a 7-0 Pioneer run to put the score at 92-90. With the score tied at 95-95, Rockhold went to the free throw line to attempt two shots with three seconds left. After missing the first, Rockhold made the second to put Marietta up one, 96-95. A desperation jumper from Cross was off the mark and gave Marietta the 96-95 win on the road.

For the game, Marietta finished 33-of-65 (.508) from the field, 12-of-28 (.429) from three and 18-of-25 (.720) from the free throw line. Otterbein finished 32-of-65 (.492) from the field, 9-of-25 (.360) from three and 22-of-24 (.917) from the free throw line. Marietta led the battle on the glass 37-35 and committed 11 turnovers to Otterbein's 12.

Marietta will stay on the road as it travels to Wilmington College Saturday (Feb.2) afternoon. Tip-off is slated for 3 p.m.

Freshman Jordan Cox had 21 points in Marietta's 96-95 win at Otterbein

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