ROCK ISLAND, Ill. — Turns out that Friday the 13th was good luck for the No. 12 ranked Marietta College men's basketball team. The Pioneers defeated No. 24 St. Olaf College by the score of 79-72 to move into the sectional finals of the NCAA Division III Tournament. The Sweet 16 win was the first in program history as the Pioneers are in the midst of their deepest run in the postseason.

Marietta improves to 28-3 on the season setting a new program record for victories in a season. The Pioneers will face Augustana College 25-4 overall in Saturday's sectional final for the right to play in the Division III Final Four in Salem, Virginia. Tip off is set for 8:00 p.m. (EST)

Both teams were a little tentative in the early going but the Pioneers were able to build a six-point lead, 11-5, at the 14:30 mark. St. Olaf turned the momentum and managed to get Marietta completely out of sync. The Oles big man, Ben Figini, scored 13 of his game-high 18 points in the first half as the Pioneers struggled.

"We were completely frustrated in the first," Marietta head coach Jon VanderWal said. "We didn't adjust to their defensive length and took a lot of fall-away shots."

St. Olaf closed the opening period on a 12-5 run and lead 36-29 at the break. Marietta shot a cool 36% from the floor in the period, while the Oles shot an even 50%.

The Oles quickly pushed its lead into double digits in the second half leading 43-31 on a three-pointer from Justin Pahl a little over two minutes into the period. Marietta responded with a 10-0 run triggered by a pair of treys from Andy Dollman.

Averaging just five three-pointers a game coming into the sectional, St. Olaf drained three straight to increase the margin back to 11 points, 54-43, with 12:45 left on the clock.

Following the under-12 media timeout, sophomore A.J. Edwards single handedly took over the game scoring on four consecutive Pioneer possessions. Figini picked up his fourth foul of the game and went to the bench with 7:47 left in the game and the Oles clinging to a four-point lead, 59-55.

"A.J. was huge for us tonight," VanderWal said. "Actually, all of our big guys played well. Eddy (Grenert) and Garrett (Stephenson) did a nice job handling St. Olaf's post players."

A free throw and three more Edwards buckets knotted the game at 61 with just over six minutes left in the game.  RaNeal Ewing stole the ball on St. Olaf's next possession and raced down the court for the easy layup and Marietta's first lead of the half, 63-61. The Pioneers would not trail again.

"I just want to win," Edwards said. "I knew someone's season was going to end tonight and I didn't want it to be ours."

Edwards finished with 15 points off the bench in only seven minutes of playing time. He was 7-of-9 from the floor and grabbed four rebounds.  Garrett Stephenson led the Pioneers with 17 points to go along with seven rebounds. Eddy Grenert notched the double-double with 14 points and 10 boards, while Ewing chipped in with 16 points.

Figini led the Oles with 18 points. Sterling Nielsen scored 14 points and Austin Majeskie added 11 points off the bench. Riely Aeikens finished with 11 points and a team-best eight rebounds.

For the game, Marietta shot 48.4% (31-of-64) from the floor, 38.1% (8-of-21) from three-point range and 56.3% (9-of-16) at the line. St. Olaf was 27-of-58 (46.6%) from the floor, 7-of-19 (36.8%) behind the arc and 11-of-16 (68.8%) at the line.

Marietta outrebounded St. Olaf 37-32. The Oles committed 10 turnovers, while the Pioneers turned the ball over nine times.