MARIETTA, Ohio — The No. 18 ranked Marietta College men's basketball team opened its season with a convincing 92-53 win over Eastern Mennonite University Friday (Nov. 15) evening in the first round of the 49th annual Marietta Shrine Tournament sponsored by BSN Sports and Fairfield Inn & Suites.

The Pioneers will play Mount St. Joseph in the championship game at 7 p.m. Saturday. The Lions beat La Roche University 72-69 in the first game of the annual event. Eastern Mennonite and La Roche will face off in the consolation game at 5 p.m.

EMU got a three-point play from Josh Whelan just over three minutes into the game to take a 7-6 lead, its last of the evening. Marietta responded with a 15-3 run to go in front 22-9 midway through the first half. Lukas Isaly started the run with a three-pointer and scored fibe of his game-high 22 points during the MC spurt.

The Pioneers took a 51-27 lead into halftime and the Royals never got within 25 points the rest of the way. A layup from Elliott Waller with 2:31 left in the game gave Marietta its biggest lead, 42 points, 90-48.

Isaly led all scorers with 22 points hitting 4-of-5 from behind the arc. Jason Ellis added 13 points and five rebounds, while Christian James scored 12 points. Pioneer post players Caleb Hoyng, Kyle Matoszkia and Jake Montgomery each had five rebounds.

DJ Hill had a double-double for the Royals with 10 points and 12 rebounds. Tim Jones scored a team-high 11 points.