Sports
Marietta Defeats Waynesburg, Stays Undefeated
By: Blaise Weber
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The Pioneers traveled to Waynesburg Wednesday in a pivotal game to see who would remain undefeated. When the final buzzer sounded, it was the Pioneers on top, 78- 65. Marietta is now 3-0 this season with some momentum rolling.
The game was tight for the entire first half with Marietta leading, 31- 26, heading into the tunnels. The game remained close until about halfway through the second half when Marietta got hot offensively.
Brennan McKean, A.J. Davis and RaNeal Ewing all found a nice shooting rhythm with Hammond distributing the ball around. The Pioneers extended their lead to 14 with a 1:20 left in the game. The Jackets made a small run at the end, but the Pioneers knocked down enough free throws to prevail.
The key to victory was the Pioneer defense slowed down Jacket scoring machine Jason Propst who was averaging 22 points per game coming into the Marietta matchup. Stopping Propst, who scored just nine points Wednesday, was a priority in practice this week, according to Marietta coach John VanderWal.
“We took away his driving angles to the basket with great gap defense,” VanderWal said.
Davis was the highlight for the Pioneers on a poor shooting night. He scored 19 points, and was 3-for-5 from downtown. Ewing contributed 19 points. The Pioneers have had a numerous amount of players who have showed they can light up the scoreboard this year.
“Davis and Ewing both played well. We have about 10 different guys that could possibly lead us in scoring on any given night. Tonight those were the two hot hands,” VanderWal said.
The Pioneers may have had a poor shooting night, as they went 24-for-63 from the field (38.1%), but they escaped a tough game with a win.
“It was nice to get a road win while shooting poorly. We were solid defensively and rebounding,” VanderWal said.
Marietta will continue its road trip at Denison University on Saturday, Nov. 23, with tipoff set for 3 p.m.