Pioneers down visiting Denison 84-71 in home opener at Fenton Court
Halter's 19 points paces four in double figures

Dec. 3, 2008
MARIETTA, Ohio — A Marietta College “White Out” at Fenton Court, sponsored by the Student Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC), helped propel Jon VanderWal’s Pioneers to a 84-71 victory over the visiting Denison University Big Red on Wednesday (Dec. 3) night. The win improved Marietta’s record to 3-2, while Denison fell to 1-4.

Fenton Court was rocking from the start due to the “White Out” with students filling the whole student section in Ban Johnson Arena. The young Pioneers noticeably fed off the ruckus crowd.

Marietta trailed only once in the game, 3-2 at the 18:31 mark of the first half. The Pioneers, however, outscored the Big Red 19-7 over the next 5:05 to set the pace for the game and the fans. The Big Red cut into the lead several times, but Marietta answered each run with one of its own. The Big Red made another push at the end of the half to trail 39-36 at intermission.

Marietta stretched its lead to 12 points, 59-47, with 12:34 left in the second half before another Denison run cut the advantage to two points, 71-69, with 5:47 to play in the game. A three-point field goal from senior guard Isaiah Creasap (Wooster/Northwestern) made the score 74-69 with 4:13 remaining. The Pioneers finished the game on a 13-2 run to make the final 84-71.

Freshman wing Trevor Halter (Malvern) led four Pioneer players in double figures with a career-best 19 points, shooting 6-of-11 (.545) from the field. Creasap followed with 16 points to increase his career total to 956 points, while freshman guard Joe Puch (Brunswick) added 14 off the bench.

Freshman forward Zane Carter (Wellsville), son of former Pioneer All-American Marvin "Quinny" Carter '80, recorded a double-double in his first outing at Fenton Court. He finished with a 13 points and a game-high 13 rebounds, while adding four blocks and four steals. All four marks were career highs for Carter. Freshman guard Kyle Lindquist (Columbus/Kilbourne) added nine points and dished out a career-best nine assists in the win.

Denison forward Chris Luther led all scorers with 24 points, 15 of those came in the first half. Jim Leffew and Casey Stockton both scored nine points for the Big Red in the loss.

Marietta finished 27-of-50 (.540) from the field, 8-of-23 (.348) from three-point range and 22-of-29 (.759) from the free throw line. Denison finished 26-of-60 (.433) from the field, 9-of-26 (.346) from behind the arc and 10-of-14 (.714) from the free throw line. The Pioneers out rebounded the Big Red 35-26. Marietta finished with 13 turnovers, while Denison had 11.

The Pioneers open up Ohio Athletic Conference (OAC) play on Saturday (Dec. 6) afternoon when Ohio Northern University visits Ban Johnson Arena for a tip-off at 3 p.m. Live statistics will be available at http://pioneers.marietta.edu/livestats/xlive.htm.

Freshman Zane Carter had a double-double in the win over Denison on Wednesday.

Box Score