Marietta College Pioneers vs. Baldwin Wallace Yellow Jackets
2022 OAC Men’s Basketball Tournament Semifinal Preview
Thursday – February 24th – 7:00PM
February 23, 2022 by C. Jay Prescher
Tuesday Night’s Quarterfinal Recap
In college basketball, playing on back-to-back days is hard enough. When the first night turns into a hard-fought overtime struggle, it magnifies the situation. When the second back-to-back game is against one of the best teams in the nation, it becomes a formidable challenge. Certainly, Head Coach Rich Bensman’s Ohio Northern University Polar Bears had to realize the monumental task they faced if they wanted to upset the #2 D3Hoops nationally ranked Marietta College Pioneers on their home court.
On Tuesday night at Ban Johnson Arena, ONU had neither the talent nor the energy to keep pace with one of the best DIII basketball teams in the country. Midway through the first half, this game became pretty much a foregone conclusion. The Pioneers’ assault came in waves. Relying guts and determination, ONU was still within five points at the 8:55 mark of the first half. But gradually, Marietta College’s tenacity began to overwhelm the Polar Bears. The Pioneers went on a 21 to 8 run to close out the first 20 minutes.
After the break, Marietta came out of the locker room and tromped down on the gas pedal even harder. In less than two minutes, the Pioneers had built their lead up to over 20 points. That gap never fell below 20 again. With 5:37 left, Marietta’s lead peaked at 39 points on a Torin Lochow jumper in the lane. An over-matched and physically worn down Ohio Northern team was simply unable to withstand the firepower from the 23-2 Pioneers. Tuesday’s OAC Tournament Quarterfinal ended up being a 99-63 blowout.
Head Coach Jon VanderWal was able to get some rest for the Pioneers’ top two rotations. Five Pioneer reserves saw nearly four minutes of court time each. That’s always a welcome bonus during the game-to-game grind of NCAA tournament basketball. Plus, it provides some valuable on-court experience for the Pioneers of the future. Playing basketball in the tough Ohio Athletic Conference means nothing ever gets any easier. Next up for the Pioneers are the Baldwin Wallace University Yellow Jackets.
Thursday’s OAC Semifinal Preview
The Pioneers’ next opponent for the OAC Tournament Semifinal game is another dangerous team. The Baldwin Wallace University Yellow Jackets earned the right to travel down to Marietta by winning one of the four OAC Men’s Quarterfinal match-ups played on Tuesday.
The #5 seeded Yellow Jackets went into Reynolds Court on the campus of Otterbein University and knocked off the #4 seeded Cardinals. This was a critical loss for Otterbein, as it may have burst the Cardinals’ chances as an NCAA Championship bubble team.
After Tuesday’s mild upset in Westerville, Baldwin Wallace is now 15-9 overall. The Jackets are very unlikely to garner much attention for one of the 20 NCAA Division III Championship at-large bids.
There are simply too many good NCAA Division III basketball teams in front of them this year. The only way the Yellow Jackets will keep playing in 2022, is to win. Baldwin Wallace Head Coach Tom Heil’s team brought that level of “one-and-done” intensity on Tuesday night against Otterbein. On Thursday night, inside a raucous Ban Johnson Arena, the Marietta College Pioneers should be prepared for more of the same.
The Yellow Jackets have only two seniors on their roster. However, Tom Hicks has seen a grand total of 10 minutes of court time this year. However, 5’11” senior guard Shane Zalba is an integral part of Baldwin Wallace’s lead rotation. He does a little of everything for BW. He’s not flashy, but he’s consistent. Zalba also has the second-most accurate field goal percentage in the conference for perimeter players, and 10th best overall.
Two junior guards lead the Yellow Jackets in scoring. Jake Snyder produces just over 14 points per game for BW. However, when Baldwin Wallace needs a clutch basket, they’ll usually look to Anthony Mazzeo. Mazzeo has clipped the nylon at 19 points per game in 2021-2022.
The 6’3” junior ranks third in the OAC in scoring average, one spot ahead of Marietta’s Jason Ellis. However, he can be forced into bad shots. Mazzeo is only ranked 25th in the OAC in overall field goal percentage. Sophomore Drew Wennes is third on the Yellow Jackets, scoring slightly under 14 points per game.
A 6’9” sophomore, lefty Christian Pfeiffer, sometimes enters Baldwin Wallace’s starting five. However, Pfeiffer has come off the bench in the Yellow Jackets’ last five games. Terrell Hicks got the nod on Senior Night. Junior Jackson Simmons has been part of the starting unit in three of those final regular season games. Simmons got the start on Tuesday night at Otterbein.
The 6’4” junior contributed 9 points on 3-3 shooting and grabbed 10 rebounds in the quarterfinal win over the Cardinals. However, he clanked 5 out of his 8 free throw attempts off the iron. Since making that late-season lineup adjustment, BW has won four out of their last five. This mini-streak broke a four-game losing stretch. The Yellow Jackets’ late-season run of success started when they outgunned Ohio Northern 91-85.
Next, BW won back-to-back conference road games at Muskingum and John Carroll. Baldwin Wallace closed out their OAC regular season with a nail-biter, a 73-72 overtime loss to Capital, at home in Berea. Other than that loss, the Yellow Jackets have been playing very good basketball down the stretch. They will certainly arrive at Ban Johnson Arena with some confidence and a little momentum.
Pioneers vs. Yellow Jackets Head-to-Head
In head-to-head matchups with Baldwin Wallace, the Pioneers have come out on top 23 out of the last 29 times they’ve played. This mark includes a 12-game winning streak between 2013 and 2017. After getting knocked off at Ban Johnson Arena in December 2017, Marietta went on another six-game run.
However, the most recent loss to the Yellow Jackets had an extra sting to it. Last January, Baldwin Wallace held on to upset the Pioneers in Berea, 83-80. That defeat had an extra level of bitterness to it. It was the Pioneers’ only loss, albeit during a shortened 2020-2021 OAC-only season. The Yellow Jackets are the only Ohio Athletic Conference team to beat Marietta since Heidelberg topped the Pioneers in February 2020.
In 2021-2022, Marietta swept the two-game regular season series from BW. The first game seems like it was ages ago. Last December, the Pioneers and Yellow Jackets played an uncommon Sunday game up in Berea. At the time, Marietta was on a modest two-game winning streak, sitting at 4-2 early in the new season.
At 9:04 in the first half, Baldwin Wallace led by ten points. After a Jason Ellis jumper cut the lead back under double digits, Anthony Mazzeo drained another triple to put the Yellow Jackets up by 11. Marietta would gradually whittle the lead back down to under 10, trailing at the break, 37-30.
But in trademark Pioneer fashion, Marietta busted out after halftime. It took less than three minutes for the Pioneers to knot the game up at 40 apiece. The next 10 minutes would be a hard-fought back-and-forth battle. With 5:41 left on the scoreboard clock, an old-fashioned three-point play by Lukas Isaly would put the Pioneers up 62-59.
Marietta then began to seize control of the game. Another old-fashioned three-point play, this time by Tim Kreeger, put the Pioneers up by nine. Baldwin Wallace still wouldn’t go away without a fight. However, Marietta answered each Yellow Jackets mini-run in the final three minutes to earn a difficult 12-point win. Four Pioneers scored in double-digits.
This was also the game where Sahmi Willoughby began to cement his presence as a dominant rebounder. Willoughby would produce his first double-double of the season. It was a game in which he yanked down an incredible 12 offensive boards.
The 6’3” junior also scored 15 points on 6-11 shooting. Willoughby had 3 blocked shots and 3 steals. Needless to say, Sahmi Willoughby was incredibly instrumental in this Pioneer victory.
Back in late January, Marietta grabbed control earlier in the second match-up played at Ban Johnson Arena. However, the Pioneers still had to weather the Anthony Mazzeo/Jake Snyder shooting show. Mazzeo and Snyder combined to go 10-18 from beyond the arc, collectively netting 44 of Baldwin Wallace’s 82 points.
The Pioneers used a balanced attack to offset BW’s blistering long-range accuracy. Senior Mason Lydic led Marietta with 23 points, including a game-high six from behind the arc. Baldwin Wallace shot over 50% from the field and an incredible 48.4% from three-point range.
As the game wore on, the Pioneers started to pound the ball inside. The strategy wore down the Yellow Jackets. Lukas Isaly, a perfect 12 for 12 from the free throw line for the game, sealed the victory with eight of his made foul shots coming in the final 2:22. In the end, neither of the two head-to-head match-ups with Baldwin Wallace were easy.
They are rarely easy in the OAC. Mason Lydic’s status for Thursday is also highly questionable. Mason was cheering his teammates on Tuesday night, while wearing a walking boot. Marietta should expect a tremendous effort from the Yellow Jackets on Thursday. Nevertheless, the Pioneers have the talent to get past this BW team and move on to host the OAC Tournament Championship Final on Saturday. But it will not be easy. The Yellow Jackets are a dangerous team.
Marietta College is within one game of a shot at their next goal. This squad covets another OAC Tournament banner. With it will come the conference’s automatic NCAA Championship bid and an almost certain top-four seed in the field of 64. That means March basketball at “The Banjo”, maybe a lot of March basketball. Here are a few keys to victory that will help Marietta College earn the privilege of hosting the OAC Championship Final this coming Saturday, on their home court, and in front of packed house of “loud and proud” Pioneer fans.
• Keys to a Pioneer Victory
• Strong Perimeter Defense: Get in the face of Baldwin Wallace’s shooters. Wennes, Mazzeo, and Snyder are dangerous. They’re even more dangerous if they get hot. At points during games over the last month of the season, the Pioneers have used a smothering defense. They’ll need to especially protect the perimeter against Baldwin Wallace.
• Dominate the Glass: Marietta must also dominate the rebounding game. When the Pioneers force missed shot attempts, they can ill afford to allow the Yellow Jackets multiple chances on the offensive end. Both teams had 31 total rebounds in the second match-up. However, a lot of that is because of the Yellow Jacket’ torrid shooting. Led by Willoughby’s 22 boards in December, the Pioneers out rebounded BW 48 to 31. The Pioneers need to control the glass on Thursday night.
• Pound the Paint: Marietta pounded the ball inside during both games. The Pioneers set up their post players nicely, plus drove the ball hard to the basket. In the second contest, it sent Marietta to the free throw line early and often in the second half. Marietta outscored the Yellow Jackets 38 to 16 down low in game #1 and put in 40 points in the paint to BW’s 26 in game #2. The Pioneers need to pound the ball into the paint on Thursday night.
• Bench Production: The Pioneers’ second line must also produce. There is little reason to think they will not. Marietta has received outstanding production from every player on their bench. Collectively, in the two head-to-head match-ups with BW this season, the Pioneer bench outscored Baldwin Wallace 62 to 25. Marietta needs this same type of outstanding production on Thursday night.
• Pioneer Milestones and Records Watch
• Marietta College will be trying to make their seventh trip to the Ohio Athletic Conference Tournament Championship game since 2011. The Pioneers have won four OAC tournament titles during this stretch. With a win on Thursday, Marietta will have earned the opportunity to be the first OAC school to win back-to-back conference tournament titles since the 2005 and 2006 Baldwin Wallace Yellow Jackets.
• Senior Jason Ellis needs 60 points to become the seventh Pioneer to reach 1,500 career points. It will also earn Ellis a spot on the OAC’s 1,500 point club.
• In addition, Ellis is on pace to break both the Marietta College single-season and career marks for best foul shooting percentage. Ellis’ current 93.9% mark would be the best in the OAC since BW’s Kevin Krakowiak’s 94.5% in 2011. The current mark is also the fourth best OAC foul shooting percentage in the last 30 seasons.
• Senior Tim Kreeger needs 13 rebounds to reach 600 for his Pioneer career.
• Sahmi Willoughby’s three offensive rebounds against Ohio Northern gave the 6’3” junior 101 on the season, surpassing the century mark. Willoughby leads the OAC in offensive rebounding and is sixth overall in the conference for total rebounds.
The 2021-2022 Marietta College Pioneers men’s basketball team is on a mission. One step towards fulfilling another team goal was accomplished on Tuesday night. There is another step ahead of this exceptionally talented squad Thursday. No team in the Ohio Athletic Conference can ever be taken lightly.
Teams are even more dangerous when they come into a game with their season on the line. Standing in the way of the Pioneers’ pursuit of excellence will be a highly motivated Baldwin Wallace Yellow Jackets team. Almost assuredly, the Yellow Jackets’ 2021-2022 basketball season will end the next time they lose.
Thursday’s semifinal game carries a one-and-done significance for BW. Marietta College must match that intensity. For the Pioneers, the stakes are even higher. However, if Marietta can again play up to their capabilities, there should be yet another huge basketball game at “The Banjo” this coming Saturday. This team is accustomed to big games. It’s in their blood.
The Word Jester is not employed by Marietta College, and is not affiliated with the Ohio Athletic Conference or D3 Hoops.com
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