It will have been 371 days of thinking what could have been when the Wilmington College men's basketball team returns to the Ohio Athletic Conference semifinals 7:30 p.m. Thursday by traveling to Ban Johnson Arena to face Marietta.

"If you are not jacked up for this one, you don't have a heartbeat," said Wilmington head coach K.C. Hunt. "Obviously we feel like we had some things taken away from us that shouldn't of last year. I know I am motivated, and the guys are too. It's going to be a heck of a challenge."

Marietta ended the Fightin' Quakers' season in the 2013 OAC semifinals in a thrilling 111-106 triple overtime game. The Pioneers swept the season series, including a 98-77 win in Marietta.

They have four players averaging double figures in OAC action, led by junior Andy Dollman. The guard is scoring 13.3 points in 11 league games. Sophomore guard RaNeal Ewing is second with 13.1 points over 16 league games with 4.9 rebounds and 1.9 assists.

Dollman's importance to the season was personified when he missed the Capital game in early February. The Pioneers suffered their worst loss of the season, falling 75-55.

Sophomore guard Luis Garcia, who came off the bench for 29 points in the victory in Wilmington, adds 12.1 points and Garrett Stephenson tallies 10.7 points.

"Marietta had a great year, and is a really good basketball team," said Hunt. "I think for us it's a heck of a lot of motivation. It's back to the scene of the crime from last year. We feel we have a great opportunity to continue in this championship. We are going to have to be unbelievably urgent. We are going to have to try to contain the ball and keep it out of the paint as much as possible. Their guards with Dollman, Ewing and (Keith) Richardson love to get into the paint and create havoc.  We are going to have stop the ball early in transition and try to do a great job of containing the ball as much as we can."

Senior Malcolm Heard (Wilmington, OH/Wilmington) was dominant is the Marietta games, averaging 27.5 points and 7.5 rebounds. Junior R.J. Leppert (Liberty Township, OH/Lakota East) has contributed 14.5 points and 5.5 rebounds in the two games.