MARION, Ind. -- After a nine day layoff the Indiana Wesleyan University men’s basketball team did not miss a step in a thorough rout of visiting Indiana Kokomo by an 81-42 score this afternoon in Luckey Arena.

“We’ve been on a break and came back from Florida and didn’t know exactly how we would respond,” said Indiana Wesleyan head coach Greg Tonagel. “We did not seem too rusty to me and I think we were able to get that out of them at practice. This is a good tune-up game heading into league.”

The Wildcats scored 17 of the first 21 points and cruised the rest of the day. All 13 Wildcats saw action with everyone playing at least five minutes. Nine players saw double digit minutes on the court.

By halftime, Indiana Wesleyan had their largest lead of the half with a 49-23 advantage. Lane Mahurin collected his own miss to score with four seconds left for the 26 point cushion. Mahurin ended the afternoon with a game-high 17 points. He was 6-of-8 from the field with seven rebounds and four steals.

The lead continued to grow throughout the second half. Aaron Murray hit two free throws with 50 seconds remaining for the largest lead of the day at 81-38. IU Kokomo scored the final four points for the 39 point victory.

One of the many bright spots of the game was the defensive effort by Indiana Wesleyan.

“I was pleased with our defense today,” said Tonagel. “I felt like we contested shots and didn’t give up anything in transition. Obviously it showed up in the stats with the second lowest shooting percentage defensively for us and a season low in points.”

IU Kokomo shot just 33.3-percent (18 of 54) from the floor and 14.3-percent (2 of 14) from 3-point range. The 42 points against is the least Indiana Wesleyan has allowed this season and is 18 lower than the next total of 60. Indiana Wesleyan forced 21 IU Kokomo turnovers and allowed just four assists.

Offensively, Indiana Wesleyan hit 47.7-percent (31 of 65) of their shots and 80.0-percent (16 of 20) from the free throw line.

RJ Mahurin and DJ Bettinger each scored 14 points and Jordan Weidner added eight. Mahurin pulled down a game-best nine rebounds and Bettinger hit all three IWU 3-pointers. Murray contributed six points off the bench while Nate Bubash chipped in five points and Kylan Dubbels and Eric Readman each had four.

Indiana Wesleyan will be off another week as the team next plays at 3 p.m. on Saturday, January 4 in Luckey Arena. IWU is back to playing Crossroads League games and the first of those is against Marian (Ind.).