WASHINGTON, D.C. - The Catholic men's basketball team got off to a red-hot start on Tuesday night, jumping to a 10-point lead less than five minutes in before pulling out a 79-69 win over Stevenson in the season opener.

In front of a strong crowd, Catholic wasted no time showing off its range as Tommy Kelly and Jesse Hafemeister both hit threes in the first 1:15 of game action to take a 6-0 lead. Kelly's three-pointer came just 19 seconds into the game and the Cardinals never gave the lead back, holding onto it for 39:41. 

Kelly got to the rim and finished a layup to make it 8-0 less than two minutes in, forcing a Stevenson timeout. After Stevenson got on the board, Hafemeister added another three before Dan Buckley canned a triple to extend the lead to 10 with 15:49 to play in the half. 

After Hafemeister's third three of the half, Sean Neylon got involved, hitting a triple to extend the Catholic lead to 20-8 less than seven minutes into the contest. 

With 11:14 remaining in the first half, Jake Melady became the fifth Catholic player to hit a triple in the first nine minutes of the game, pushing the Catholic lead to 24-12. 

Charley Hepting drilled a three with 6:45 to play in the half, pushing the lead to 32-18 and becoming the sixth Cardinal to hit a first-half three. Hafemeister converted on a reverse layup with 2:41 left in the half to give Catholic its largest first-half lead at 41-21. Cephas Wilson-Bahun pushed it back to 20 with a thunderous dunk but was whistled for a technical foul, allowing Stevenson to get the deficit back under 20. Stevenson ended the half on an 8-2 run to cut the Catholic lead to 14. 

The Cardinals were lights out in the first half, shooting 57.1 percent from the floor and 50 percent from three. 

Now leading by 12, a four-point possession pushed the lead back to 16 as Hafemeister knocked down a technical free throw and Kelly hit a three just 51 seconds into the half. 

After Stevenson cut it to 12, Jamie Ntiamoah scored his first career bucket to make it 54-40 Catholic with 15:18 left in the game to spark a 10-2 Catholic run as they pushed the lead back to 20 at 62-42 after a Neylon made layup. 

Brian Herbert hit his second three of the game and Kelly knocked down a pair of free throws at the 11:53 mark to give Catholic its biggest lead of the game, 23 points. 

An 8-0 Stevenson run brought the Catholic lead back to 15 before a Colby Martins free throw stopped the run. The Mustangs trimmed Catholic's lead to 10 after a Nate Arrington jumper with 4:37 to play in the contest, but Kelly answered with a layup 16 seconds later. 

The Mustangs got within seven with 2:51 to play, but Wilson-Bahun hit a massive three off a feed from Buckley to push the lead back to 75-65 with 2:29 remaining. The Cardinals closed out a 79-69 victory to open up the season. 

Kelly led the Catholic offense with 19 points on six-of-eight shooting while Hafemeister just missed a double-double with 12 points and nine rebounds. Eleven different Cardinals scored at least three points in the game while eight different players made a three. The Cardinals matched the 2021-22 season high with 13 threes in the opener. Wilson-Bahun chipped in eight points and eight rebounds while blocking three shots. 

There were 47 total fouls handed out in Tuesday night's opener with 21 different players being whistled for a personal foul. 

Catholic returns to action on Friday at the Messiah Tip-Off as they take on Misericordia. They will then play in either the championship or the consolation on Saturday.