MARIETTA, Ohio — It didn't take long to figure out Wittenberg's game plan.

The Tigers wanted to get the ball inside to 6-foot-10 senior Chad Roy as often as possible — and it worked. Roy scored a team-high 18 points, while also pulling down six rebounds as Wittenberg held on for a 78-74 victory over Mount St. Joseph (0-1) in the first game of the inaugural Great Lakes Invitational at Marietta College Friday afternoon.

Roy scored the first six points of the game for the Tigers, all on assists from 5-11 sophomore guard Jacob Bertemes.

"We like to go into him early anyway," said Wittenberg coach Matt Croci. "We understand what teams are going to do to defend it. After those early possessions, they pressured our guards, and the entry pass was harder to make. We know we have an advantage in there and sometimes we get tunnel vision."

Roy, who is arguably the best post player in the North Coast Athletic Conference, said the four-point win against a strong opponent was a great way to get the season started.

"That's huge, especially for a young team like us. We answered every time, and we hit some big shots to turn momentum," he said. "The guys were looking at me early, and they stuck with me. We made some adjustments and kept going."

MSJ coach Toby Carrigan said his Lions were not surprised by Wittenberg's offensive attack.

"We're going to go up against bigger guys every night," he said. "We don't have a 6-9 guy, so we ask our guys to be active."

Carrigan said it wasn't just Roy who created problems in the post. Wittenberg also looked at 6-7 senior Chris Sloneker and 6-6 sophomore Connor Seipel. Seipel finished with 12 points, while Sloneker added nine points.

"We knew how big they were and how physical they were going to be," said MSJ sophomore guard Adam Goetz, who scored a game-high 19 points and was the Freshman of the Year in the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference last year. "The first couple of minutes they smacked us in the face, but we settled down. (In the second half) I tried to make myself a little more active. It was a tough first loss and tough first game. Now we have to win tomorrow and move on."

Bertemes scored 12 points and added five assists for Wittenberg. He said he didn't see much playing time last year, so today's win was a bit of an eye-opener for him.

"It was nice to get it out of the way," he said. "It was different for me, and I was a little nervous. Throwing it to (Roy) to start the game helped, and after those three possessions my nerves were settled."

Wittenberg junior point guard Mitchell Balser, a transfer from Wooster, had a solid debut for the Tigers. He scored 10 points and added five assists. The Tigers also outscored the Lions 38-26 in the paint and 31-20 from the bench.

MSJ's other top scorers were senior guard Conner Myslowski (11 points), senior guard Jordan Henry (10) and senior forward Tyler Manaugh (10). First-team All-HCAC performer Erik Edwards was held to six points, but he did pull down seven rebounds while drawing the tough assignment of guarding Roy.

"I thought when it came time to get a stop and a score, especially when we tied it up late, we couldn't do it," Carrigan said. "We had a real problem guarding in the second half. This was a good game and (Wittenberg) played hard and got after us."

Croci agreed it was a hard-fought game.

"I'm really proud of our effort. There were some first-game jitters," he said. "I'm sure Toby would probably feel the same way. We didn't play crisp and clean basketball. … As the game went along, we got better and better. Mount is a good team, and they are going to win a lot of games this year."

The second-year Wittenberg coach added that his program was honored to be part of the inaugural tournament.

"We know we have a long and rich tradition in our program," he said. "But it's still cool to be part of an event like this. It's really cool for us to be a part of it. We were talking about it last night, and we were kind of excited to play the first game. It's an honor to be in this game."

Roy added, "It's really exciting. I've never experienced anything like this. These are all talented teams from all over the place."