FOND DU LAC - The Marian University men's basketball (1-0, 0-0 NACC) offense looked strong in a 74-66 season-opening win over UW-Superior.

The Sabres opened the game strong using a 20-4 run in the first 7:29 of the game to take an early lead.  Senior Will Olewinski capped off the fast start with back-to-back three pointers.  The Yellow Jackets would battle back, however, as they were able to chip away at the Marian lead trimming it down to three at 33-30 at halftime. 

The two teams went back-and-forth to open the second half with Marian extending their lead out to 48-40 with 13:49 remaining.  The Sabre offense was then able to take over in the next 3:05 using an 11-2 run to take a commanding 59-42 lead.

Similarly to the first half, UW-Superior was able to chip away at the big lead and cut the Sabre lead down to as little as six at 63-57 with 3:38 left in the game.  The Sabres were able to fight off this late rally sinking five free throws in the final 27 seconds to secure the victory.

The two teams shot the ball similarly but the Sabre bench provided Marian a big boost with the Sabre bench outscoring the UW-Superior bench 34-10.  The Sabres would also record 20 assists in the victory to go with 20 fastbreak points.

Sophomore Tavaris McCullough paced the Sabres with a career-high 22 points.  Fellow sophomore Logan Hamilton added 11 points with six assists, while freshman Hunter Schultz came off the bench to score 11 points.  Senior Tyrese Pinson opened his final season with seven assists, two steals, and five rebounds.

Marian hits the road traveling to Beloit for a 7 p.m. non-conference game Tuesday, Nov. 20.

--FightBlueFight--