New Albany, Ind. - The Marian men's basketball team won their regular season opener on Monday night, getting a career-high from Aidan Franks as they defeated IU-Southeast 81-71. Marian begins their season 1-0 for the 10th consecutive season, while head coach Pat Knight earns his first win on the Marian sidelines.

Scoring was hard to come by in the early minutes of Monday's regular season opener, as a total of eight points were scored in the first four minutes of the game. Josiah Gustin and Aidan Franks knocked down three-point shots to get the offense going after the Grenadiers scored on their opening possession, while Franks would score again to give Marian a 10-4 lead and force a timeout. Marian saw their lead erased over the next five minutes as IU-Southeast tied the game on a pair of scores, but were never able to overtake the Knights as Elhadj Diallo and Franks helped their team to a 24-21 lead at the under-10 media timeout. 

The Knights lead would increase to six following the break as Gus Etchison buried a three pointer, but it wasn't enough to put spark a breakaway run, as the Grenadiers kept the score within 10 for the remainder of the half. Marian led 38-28 after a Gavin Foe jumper with 4:48 to play in the period, but would see their lead dwindle to one as the home team took a 9-0 run. Etchison snapped the run with a driving layup to give Marian a 40-37 lead, while with 30 seconds to play Franks reclaimed the lead going into halftime, scoring a layup to provide a 42-41 lead at the break.

The game jumped back and forth to open the second half as both Marian and IU-Southeast traded makes and stops, seeing the lead change hands or come to a draw multiple times in the first six minutes. Franks controlled the scoring for Marian to open the half, scoring 10 of his second half 15 points in the stretch, helping hold a 58-56 lead. A pair of Dylan Moles buckets would give Marian the lead back with 11:02 to play after the Grenadiers scored four unanswered points, and following the make a scoreless run of 2:30 took place as the defense increased on both sides of the court.

IU-Southeast would jump in front one final time with 8:18 to play, as they broke the scoring drought with a 4-0 run, but the lead was short-lived as Franks buried a three to give his team a 65-64 edge. After another stretch of 2:40 without a score, a rebound and fastbreak dunk from Gus Etchison gave the Knights their final wind, as they pushed ahead by three with 4:57 to play, and carried into a 6-0 run to take a 71-64 lead. Noah Lovan and Franks put the final daggers on the scoreboard with a pair of scores, while Josiah Gustin's dunk with 1:12 sealed the win, as Etchison would ice the game away at the charity stripe and close the 81-71 victory for Marian and head coach Pat Knight.

Aidan Franks headlined the box score, scoring a career-high 24 points while grabbing seven rebounds and a blocked shot. The guard was followed in scoring by Gus Etchison, who scored 21 points and dished out three assists. Dylan Moles scored 10 points and Elhadj Diallo scored 11 in the win, and Gustin led the team in rebounding with 11 boards to go with seven points. Gavin Foe recorded a team-high five assists in the win.

Marian shot 50.8 percent from the floor in the victory, while making 39 percent of their three-point shots. Marian's defense held the Grenadiers to a 35.5 percent night from the floor, forcing IU-Southeast into a 6-for-36 night from downtown. 

Marian will continue their regular season 

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