Marietta's Zaiden Wittekind (20) attacks the basket during Tuesday's game against Fort Frye. (Photo by Mike Morrison)

BEVERLY — It may have been their first game of the season, but the Marietta Tiger defense looked like they were in mid-season form Tuesday night on the road at Fort Frye.

The Tiger offense wasn’t too shabby at times either as they rolled to a season-opening 54-23 win over the Cadets.

The Marietta pressure defense proved to be too much for Fort Frye in the second quarter when the Tigers out-pointed them 25-5 to turn a close ball game into a 25-point lead at the intermission.

“I thought our intensity and our effort and our attitudes were all really good and I think that set the tone for us to make shots,” said Marietta head coach Austin Gardner. “It was an all-around great effort by our kids in a very tough environment.”

Lucas Miller came off the bench to lead the charge for the Tigers as the junior came up with five steals in the opening half alone with several of those leading to points in transition.

Marietta's Lucas Miller (1) attacks the basket as Fort Frye's Coen Fouss (4) defends during Tuesday's game. (Photo by Mike Morrison)

“Our starting guys gave great effort but I thought Lucas Miller really provided a spark off of the bench for us,” said Gardner. “He’s been great in practice and in scrimmages and it was great to see him translate it into the game tonight.”

Fort Frye came out of the gate strong as they trailed the Tigers 10-9 with less than two minutes to play in the first quarter before things went awry for the home team.

The Cadets were dealt a huge blow early on when senior Dakota Snodgrass, who has fought back from a pair of devastating knee injuries to be ready for the opening game, appeared to suffer another knee injury and was forced to leave the game.

The Tigers finished the opening quarter with back-to-back buckets by junior Trey Hawkins and senior Junior Bass and then put on an absolute shooting clinic to begin the second quarter to begin to pull away.

Senior Brayden Jones got the barrage started for the orange and black by draining a three and minutes later he assisted Hawkins on a triple of his own.

Fort Frye's Chatum Courson (2) rejects a shot attempt by Marietta's Lucas Miller (1) during Tuesday's game. (Photo by Mike Morrison)

Jones rang the bell from long range once again to stretch the lead to 13 before a jump-hook by Hawkins forced Fort Frye head coach Eric Henniger to call a time out.

A free-throw by Jones and a bucket off of a steal by junior Zaiden Wittekind capped a 17-0 Tiger run that gave them a 27-9 advantage.

The Cadets finally got on the board in the second quarter thanks to back-to-back two-pointers from junior Kainan Bradford.

Fort Frye would be able to score just one more point the rest of the quarter as the Cadets closed out the half on a 10-0 run to take a 39-14 lead into the break.

Bass and senior Seth Britton both knocked down triples in the closing minutes of the half bringing Marietta’s total to five in the second quarter.

“We emphasize shooting a lot and if you are not spacing the floor and able to shoot they can collapse on you,” said Gardner. “It opens our dribble-drive offense with our guards and the athleticism that we have.”

Marietta kept their foot on the gas early in the second half when Wittekind and Jones canned back-to-back three-pointers to open the third quarter and extend the lead past 30.

The Tigers shot the ball well in the game (55 percent) while connecting on nine from behind the arc.

Jones and Hawkins each tossed in 13 points to lead the way for the Tigers while Wittekind reached double figures with 11 while also leading the visitors with five rebounds.

Bass was solid in his first game as a Tiger as the former Belpre Golden Eagle scored seven points and yanked down four boards.

The Cadets were led by Bradford with six points and five rebounds while Coen Fouss added five points.

Fort Frye will look to bounce back Friday night as they travel to Caldwell to take on the Redskins.

The win for Marietta gives them the early advantage in Twin States League play with a huge early season battle on tap Friday night when they host the arch-rival Warren Warriors.

“Warren is obviously very good, very experienced, well coached and they are going to be an absolute handful,” said Gardner. “We are looking forward to the test and it should be a great high school basketball atmosphere on Friday night.”