MARION, Ind. (Box Score) -- Junior forward Zach Coverstone carried the Indiana Wesleyan University men's basketball team to a 72-55 victory over Marian (Ind.) College on Tuesday night in Luckey Arena.

Coverstone drained 21 points on 10-of-13 shooting. He also grabbed 13 rebounds and swatted six shots on the night. The six blocked shots fall one short of the school record, tied by Coverstone last Saturday.

The victory extends the win streak to nine in a row for the Wildcats, their largest such streak since the 2006-07 season where IWU opened the campaign with 10 consecutive wins.

Coverstone connected on the first bucket of the game, just 17 seconds into play. The Wildcats would not relinquish that lead all night, although Marian stayed close for nearly 30 minutes of play.

No. 6-ranked Indiana Wesleyan held a 12-10 advantage with 12 minutes left in the opening period. A quick 7-0 Wildcat run gave IWU a 19-10 lead just over a minute later.

Following a pair of free throws by senior guard Jon Moon that pushed the Indiana Wesleyan lead to 10 points (27-17), Marian responded with eight unanswered points to close the gap to 27-25. Moon finished with 13 points.

Coverstone and Moon hit baskets on back-to-back possessions as four minutes remained before the half, but Indiana Wesleyan could not add any more points before the break. The Knights scored five more points in that time to trim the Wildcat lead to 31-30 at halftime.

Indiana Wesleyan and Marian traded blows the first seven minutes of the second half as the IWU lead remained between one to four points. Finally, a Coverstone bucket gained the Wildcats a six point advantage at 45-39 with 13 minutes left.

Indiana Wesleyan (17-3, 5-1 MCC) was able to garner their first double digit lead since six minutes remained in the first half as a 9-0 Wildcat run resulted in a 50-39 lead with 11:28 to go.

Marian (9-7, 0-6 MCC) mounted one last charge as a 7-2 spurt made it a six point game at 52-46. But Indiana Wesleyan was too strong and buried the Knights with an 18-6 run before closing out the 72-55 win.

Wildcat senior guard Antonio Murrell poured in 14 points along with six rebounds in the winning effort. Senior forward Landon Adler added 10 boards and junior guard Spencer Harris dished out a team-best four assists.

Marian was led by Jordan Tucker with 21 points and five rebounds.

Indiana Wesleyan dominated the much smaller Knights on the boards. IWU out-rebounded the visitors 47-27.

Indiana Wesleyan returns to action at 3 p.m. on Saturday, January 17 as the Wildcats travel to play Grace (Ind.) College in Winona Lake, Indiana.