Wednesday: Marietta wins big in Alliance

Feb 09, 2022
Tim Kreeger scored 17 points, including the 1,000th of his career, as Marietta picked up a big road win.
Marietta athletics photo by Rebecca Wheeler Photography
 

No. 2 Marietta took it to No. 10 Mount Union for a second time, No. 9 Illinois Wesleyan won on a buzzer-beater, and Yeshiva survived to avoid a second consecutive loss. All that and more in Wednesday's Division III men's basketball action.

Sahmi Willoughby scored a game-high 25 points and added 15 rebounds, off the bench, as No. 2 Marietta rolled past No. 10 Mount Union on the road by 20 points. Mount Union scored nine of the last points to make the final margin 84-64.

The Pioneers (19-2, 14-0 Ohio Athletic Conference) rolled out a 23-3 run in the first half and held Mount Union (18-3, 11-3) to just 18 points in the first half. The Purple Raiders shot just 24 percent from the floor and 23 percent from 3-point rnage in the first half. It was Marietta's 17th consecutive win and clinched the regular-season OAC title.

"The first half was one the best performances I've ever seen. Our guys played great defense and made Mount work for absolutely everything while keeping them off the glass," Marietta head coach Jon VanderWal said. "On the other end, our offensive rebounding gave us a ton of momentum. Our guards are always solid and tonight our post players really stepped up on both ends. Sahmi (Willoughby) was an absolute monster today."

After UW-Platteville took a 61-60 lead late in the game against UW-Whitewater, the Warhawks scored the next seven points, including a pair of free throws by Gage Malensek, a 3-pointer by Elijah Lambert and a jumper by Derek Gray for a 67-61 advantage with 2:47 on the clock. UW-W maintained the lead as the Pioneers drew to within one possession in the closing seconds. After Lambert knocked down a free throw to give the Warhawks a three-point lead, UW-Platteville was unable to get a shot off as time expired and Whitewater won 78-75. It's Platteville's second loss in three games.

Matthew Leyritz hit the game-winning basket as time expired off a feed from Luke Yoder to lift No. 9 Illinois Wesleyan past Millikin 51-49. Calvin Fisher had tied the game for the Big Blue at 49-49 with a basket with 48 seconds remaining. After a missed 3-pointer by Illinois Wesleyan, Millikin had a shot at a go-ahead basket with 11 seconds left, but Leritz blocked the attempt. He missed a shot with four seconds left to take the lead and Yoder missed on the putback with the ball going out of bounds off a Millikin player setting up the last-second shot situation.

SUNY-Old Westbury led by 13 at the half and were tied as late as 1:57 in the game before No. 15 Yeshiva pulled away to win 75-69. Zachary Cummings scored 21, Charles Wingate added another 21 and Nigel Carter added 20 for the Panthers, but Ryan Turell went for 26 for Yeshiva, 24 of them in the second half after going 1-for-5 in the first half.

Christopher Newport sophomore Jahn Hines took over in the second half, leading the Captains to their 17th straight victory. CNU, ranked fourth in the nation, posted a 78-71 victory over Mary Washington at the Freeman Center as Hines recorded 19 of his career-high 26 points in the second half. The come-from-behind victory improved the Captains to 20-2 overall.

Jake Rhode became Elmhurst's all-time leading scorer after pumping in 25 points while leading the Bluejays to a convincing 99-72 home win over Augustana. Rhode entered the game tied for the Bluejays' all-time record in points scored with 1,914. He wasted little time getting the record, splashing home a turn-around jump shot from 15 feet to account for the Bluejays' first bucket of the game. He finished with 25 points to move his career total to 1,939. Elmhurst outscored Augustana 45-18 down the stretch en route to the 27-point victory.

No. 22 WPI scored the first 15 points and kept the momentum going with a 66-41 wire-to-wire win against MIT. It marked the ninth wire-to-wire win for the Crimson and Gray this season and third in their last four contests. WPI is unbeaten in February and 19-2 overall, 10-1 in the NEWMAC. WPI was led by a 19-point, seven rebound effort from John Lowther who also added three assists and three steals. John Adams added 12 points and six rebounds while Colin McNamara finished with 12 points and 11 rebounds for his first double-double of the season.

And Cairn and Rosemont did not play at all tonight, for reasons explained below.