Nov. 28, 2007
MARIETTA, Ohio — The Marietta College men’s basketball team earned its second straight victory with an 84-64 rout of Franciscan College Wednesday (Nov. 28) night at Fenton Court. The Pioneers improve to 2-3 under first-year Head Coach Jon VanderWal, while the Barons fall to 1-3.

Leading the way for the Pioneers was freshman guard Nathan Edick (Westerville/Thomas Worthington), who hit 7-of-11 (.636) from the three-point line to finish with a career-high 22 points. Sophomore guard Jordan Johnson (Reynoldsburg) had a solid all-around night, scoring 13 points with eight rebounds and seven assists. Fellow guard Jordan Cox (West Union) added 13 points. Senior center Adam Rockhold (Olmsted Falls) contributed eight points and 12 rebounds. Freshman forward Matt Levitt (North Canton/Hoover) also had eight points and added five rebounds.

The Barons were led by the brother combination of Ben and Matt Liedel, scoring 15 points and three rebounds each. Connor Flanagan added 10 points and five rebounds for Franciscan.

The Pioneers came out swinging during their home opener against the Barons. Cox threw an alley oop to Rockhold two minutes in and the senior center dunked it down to ignite the home crowd. Marietta used the momentum from the Rockhold dunk and some hot shooting from Cox and Edick to build a 37-25 lead at the half. The second half proved to be much of the same as the Barons just could not stay with Marietta’s hot shooters and did not match up physically down low with the Pioneers. Despite 21 turnovers, Marietta stayed strong down the stretch to hold on to the 20-point victory.

For the game, Marietta finished 29-of-62 (.468) from the field, 10-of-31 (.323) from long range and 16-of-24 (.667) from the free throw line. Franciscan, meanwhile, finished the night 23-of-73 (.315) from the field, 7-of-32 (.219) from three and 11-of-14 (.786) from the free throw line.

Up next for the Pioneers is a trip to Ada, Ohio, on Saturday (Dec. 1) afternoon to face off against conference foe Ohio Northern for the first Ohio Athletic Conference match-up of the season. Tip-off is slated for 3 p.m.   

Sophomore Jordan Johnson helped Marietta defeat Franciscan on Wednesday

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