OWINGS MILLS, Md. — Marietta College scored the first 12 points of the game and never looked back as the No. 17 ranked Pioneers defeated Albright College 74-56 Friday (Nov. 18) afternoon in the first round of the fifth annual Hoopsville National Invitational Classic presented by Buffalo Wild Wings.

Marietta won the opening tip and junior Dillon Young quickly drained a three-pointer. Aided by four Albright turnovers in the early going, the Pioneers got a pair of layups from Jack Thome and a layup and three-ball from A.J. Edwards to push the margin to 12-0 at the 15:27 mark.

The Lions finally got on the board when DeJuan Smith hit a three-pointer nearly six minutes into the game. But the damage was done. Albright would get no closer than nine points and trailed by double digits the entire second half.

A jumper from Anthony Wallace with 5:40 left in the first half gave Marietta a 23-point advantage, 38-15. The Pioneers led by 20 at halftime, 47-27.

Leading by as many as 29 points in the second half, Pioneer head coach Jon VanderWal was able to clear his bench early. With a matchup looming with the No. 2 team in the nation on Saturday, Marietta will be well rested as the starters averaged just over 18 minutes against Albright.

Edwards scored 14 first-half points and finished with a game=high 16 points in the game. He also grabbed a team-high five rebounds. Keith Richardson added 13 points and four boards off the bench.

Thome tallied eight points, while Wallace chipped in with seven points and four rebounds. Freshman Caleb Hoyng pulled down five rebounds to go along with four points off the bench.

For the game, Marietta shot 43.7% (31-of-71) from the floor, 27.6% (8-of-29) from three-point range and 57.1% (4-of-7) from the free throw line. Albright was 21-of-57 (36.8%) from the floor, 5-of-21 (23.8%) behind the arc and 9-of-14 (64.3%) at the line.

Marietta forced 23 Lions turnovers that resulted in 23 points for the Pioneers. MC committed 14 turnovers in the game.  The Pioneers outrebounded Albright by one, 40-39.

In the feature game of the Classic, Marietta and No. 2 ranked Christopher Newport University will square off in the final game of the weekend Saturday (Nov. 19) at 8 p.m.