Box Score MARION, Ind. (Box Score) -- In a battle between highly ranked opponents on Tuesday night the No. 7-ranked Indiana Wesleyan University men's basketball team left no doubt in a dominating 69-47 performance against No. 13-ranked Spring Arbor (Mich.) University.
The Wildcats protected their home court and are a perfect 7-0 at Luckey Arena. IWU did not trail in the contest and were never threatened by the Cougars.
Spring Arbor entered the night 16-2 and was the last unbeaten team in the Mid-Central College Conference at 4-0 after an upset on Saturday over No. 2-ranked Bethel (Ind.) College. But the team shooting 46.9-percent from the field and averaging 73.9 points per game this year was stymied by the Wildcat defense.
Indiana Wesleyan (15-3, 3-1 MCC) forced Spring Arbor to 27.5-percent (14 of 51) shooting and 47 points, 14 points less than their previous season low.
Indiana Wesleyan shot 50.0-percent (28 of 56) on the night as 11 different players scored.
The Wildcats scored the game's first seven points and held the Cougars scoreless for the first four and a half minutes of play. Spring Arbor trimmed the Wildcat lead to 7-5 before IWU went on a 13-2 run to gain a 20-7 lead halfway through the first half.
Indiana Wesleyan maintained a double digit lead the rest of the night and built their largest lead of the opening period of 15 points (33-18) with 4:25 on the clock. IWU senior forward Landon Adler hit a free throw to close out the scoring in the half as the Wildcats went to intermission with a 34-22 advantage. Adler ended the game with nine points and a game-high 12 rebounds.
Spring Arbor (16-3, 4-1 MCC) had no answer for Indiana Wesleyan in the second half as IWU charged out of the locker room with an 11-2 run to open a 45-24 lead. After a field goal by Indiana Wesleyan junior forward Josh Williams increased the lead to 49-28 with 14:20 remaining, the Wildcat advantage never fell below 20 points the rest of the way.
Indiana Wesleyan gained their largest lead of 29 points at 64-35 with 5:08 left as freshman guard Derrick Troyer connected on his third straight basket for IWU. Troyer tied his career-high in points with 15 on 7-of-7 shooting.
Reigning MCC Player of the Week, IWU junior forward Zach Coverstone, tied Troyer for game-high honors with 15 points. Coverstone was 5-of-7 from the field and blocked three shots.
Spring Arbor was led in scoring by Aaron List with 10 points.
Indiana Wesleyan returns to the road in their next game as the Wildcats play conference foe University of Saint Francis (Ind.) at 3 p.m. on Saturday, January 10 in Fort Wayne, Indiana.
