COLLEGEVILLE, Pa. — Marietta College started off the Andy Bucheit era with an 89-81 victory over Misericordia University Friday evening in the first round of the Ursinus Bear Bash Tip-Off Tournament. The Pioneers will play Ursinus, an 84-65 winner over Elmira, in the championship game on Saturday at 3 p.m.

Bucheit, who was an assistant coach at Marietta for five seasons before serving as the head coach at Heidelberg for the last 12 years, turned to a couple of familiar faces to lead the Pioneers in his Marietta debut. Heidelberg transfers Elijah Harden and Jai Guerra-Howard joined Pioneer returner Jake Singleton in double figures against the Cougars.

Harden equaled his career-high with 34 points in the opener. He was 12-of-21 from the floor, including three triples. Singleton, the lone returning starter from a year ago, scored 18 points, while Guerra-Howard chipped in with 17 points and five assists.

“We had a great start. We were competitive. Tough. Then we lost our edge and lost our toughness. Misericordia beat us to a lot of 50/50 balls which gave them the lead,” Bucheit said. “At halftime, we addressed the lack of toughness on the glass and with the loose balls. We did a better job but not what we are capable of. Getting more stops defensively allowed us to play in the open floor more and get our guards more opportunities.”

Marietta jumped out to an early lead when Singleton found Mason Wisniewski open under the basket for a dunk to give the Pioneers a 14-2 lead just four minutes into the game. The Pioneers seem to be cruising as they extended the lead to 21-6 on a Singleton layup with 13 minutes left in the first half.

Misericordia regrouped and chipped away at the deficit. Five quick points from Darryl Wright spurred an 11-0 Cougar run as Misericordia cut the Pioneer lead to four points, 21-17, midway through the half.

The Pioneers responded with eight straight points from Harden and a three-pointer from Darius Carden put Marietta back in front, 36-26. But in a half of streaks, Misericordia tallied the next 10 points tying the game, 36-36, with 2:35 left on the clock. The Cougars managed to grab the lead, 44-42, at halftime with a pair of free throws from Will Anozie with no time on the clock.

“We were proud of our resilience. We had guys step up and deliver in big moments,” Bucheit said. “Trenton (Collins) being one of them. He made multiple plays that won’t show up in the stats as we were in heavy foul trouble. We have a lot more in the tank, but we are grateful the guys stuck with it in the face of some adversity and pulled it out.”

Marietta scored the first seven points of the second half to retake the lead. The Pioneers held a small lead until an old-fashioned three-point play from Jack Gallagher gave the Cougars a 63-62 advantage midway through the half.

The Pioneers clung to a one-point lead as the game headed into the final 10 minutes. An 11-0 run gave Marietta control of the game. Six points from Guerra-Howard, a three-pointer from Singleton, and a bucket from Harden made it 79-67 with under five minutes left in the game. Misericordia got no closer than seven points the rest of the way.

Matt Prociak led the Cougars with 16 points and nine rebounds. Gallagher scored 12 points, Nate Townsend added 11 points, and Arvel Chandler chipped in with 10 points.