Marietta men withstand last second shot to defeat Heidelberg for second straight meeting
Pioneers improve to 11-10 with 67-65 victory at Ban Johnson Arena

Feb. 7, 2009
MARIETTA, Ohio — The Marietta College men's basketball slipped by a resilient Heidelberg University squad, 67-65, Saturday (Feb. 7) afternoon at Ban Johnson Arena. It was the second straight narrow victory for the Pioneers in the series, as they held off the Student Princes 70-69 in their first meeting on Dec. 20.

The Pioneers improved to 11-10 overall and 6-8 in the Ohio Athletic Conference (OAC). The team's 11 wins are the most since the 2001-02 squad finished 13-13. Heidelberg fell to 7-14 overall and 4-10 in the OAC.

After falling behind 2-0 early, freshman Joe Puch (Brunswick) nailed a pair of three-pointers to give the Pioneers a 6-2 lead just two minutes into the game. Heidelberg took control of the game over the next 16 minutes, pushing its lead to five points on six separate occasions. The Student Princes led 28-23 with 2:50 to play before intermission. Freshman Trevor Halter's (Malvern) basket at the buzzer finished a 10-2 run to give the Pioneers the lead, 33-30, at halftime.

Heidelberg came out in the second half and outscored Marietta 25-15 over the first 8:12 of the period to lead, 55-48. Pioneer Head Coach Jon VanderWal's timeout sparked an 8-0 run by the home team, giving it the lead, 56-55, with 10:05 to play. Marietta stretched its advantage to as many as six points, 67-61, with 2:37 to play in the game. The Pioneers, however, did not score over the final 2:37, but were able to hold off the Student Princes, 67-65, for its sixth OAC victory of the year.

Freshman forward Kevin Knab (Lakewood) led the Pioneers with 19 points and six rebounds. Puch and fellow freshman Zach Walton (St. Louisville) both scored 11 points in the victory. Walton's 11 points was a career-high and he also collected six rebounds.

Josh Calver led the Student Princes with 13 points and a game-high six assists. Travis Kinn and Jim Smalley each scored 12 points in the loss. Derrick Flynn came off the bench to score 11 points.

Marietta finished 26-of-52 (.500) from the field, 5-of-13 (.385) from behind the arc and 10-of-17 (.588) from the charity stripe. Heidelberg went 25-of-60 (.417) from the field, 5-of-12 (.417) from three-point range and 10-of-18 (.556) from the free throw line. The Pioneers out-rebounded the Student Princes, 37-34, but committed 15 turnovers to Heidelberg's 10.

The Pioneers are back in action on Wednesday (Feb. 11) night as it will play host to OAC rival Muskingum College. Tip-off is slated for 7:30 p.m.

Freshman Zach Walton came off the bench to score 11 key points in Marietta's 67-65 win over Heidelberg.

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