Trey Farley
tlf001@marietta.edu
They say lightning never strikes the same place twice. Someone must have forgotten to tell Coach Jon VanderWal whose team clinched its third straight regular season Ohio Athletic Conference title this past Saturday in a 100-85 victory over Ohio Northern. In a game that seemed all but decided until the 12 minute marker in the second half, the Pioneers seemed in control from tipoff to final buzzer in front of a sell-out Ban Johnson arena.
Pioneer fans participated in a “white out”, which included free t-shirts for the first 200 students that came through the doors, and the energy they provided was nothing short of extraordinary. With every basket the crowd gained more energy before erupting in the final minute when senior guard RaNeal Ewing threw down a slam dunk to cap the game for the Pioneers.
Marietta joins Wittenberg (1959-61) and Otterbein (1990-92) as the only men’s basketball teams to win three straight outright OAC championships.
Six Pioneers scored in double figures led by senior Jack Thome’s career high 25 points, Dillon Young and Anthony Wallace scored 18 each, Keith Richardson added 14, and RaNeal Ewing scored 12 points in the effort.
The men weren’t the only Pioneer team celebrating conference success this season. The women’s basketball team also clinched a berth in their respective conference tournament becoming the number four seed this past Wednesday after defeating Muskingum 74-67. The win broke a tie between the two teams for the last seed for the home court advantage for the first round of play. The women finish the regular season at 15-10. This season was the most successful season for the program in over 20 years, and Coach Kole Vivian now holds the record for most wins by a rookie head coach.
Both the men and women will play at home on Feb. 21, both will both open conference tournament play in front of loyal pioneer fans with each team looking to secure a tournament championship and a guaranteed bid to their respective NCAA Division Three tournament.
