MARION, Ind. -- Senior RJ Mahurin and freshman Lane Mahurin each played in their first rivalry game with Taylor (Ind.) on Tuesday night in Luckey Arena. The brothers combined for 39 points as Indiana Wesleyan University men’s basketball won 71-52.

The Wildcats never trailed after scoring the first seven points of the game. The Mahurins accounted for five of those first seven points.

RJ Mahurin scored a game-best 24 points on 10-of-17 shooting for the third highest point total as a Wildcat. He also pulled down a game-high 9 rebounds in 28 minutes of action. Lane Mahurin was second on the team with 15 points, his second highest total of his career. He was 4-of-7 shooting and 7-of-9 from the foul line.

“When they play hard those boys are good,” said Indiana Wesleyan head coach Greg Tonagel. “I saw Lane get on the glass early and RJ playing hard. That was a big difference in the game tonight.”

Indiana Wesleyan (15-4, 5-2 CL) had perhaps their top defensive performance of the season. IWU kept Taylor to 20 points below their season average and to 37.3-percent (19 of 51) shooting from the field. TU finished the night with 4 assists to 14 turnovers.

“I thought we executed well,” Tonagel stated about the defense. “I thought we made them earn a lot of things tonight. I was proud of the defensive effort we gave tonight.”

Taylor (8-10, 2-5 CL) was unable to score a single point until the game was more than five minutes old. TU had a six point run midway through the first half that close the gap to 15-12. But Indiana Wesleyan responded with the next five points and was not threatened the rest of the evening.

Besides the six point run by the Trojans, they had a four point run with seven minutes left in the game as they trailed by 19 points. The rest of the night Taylor did not score more than two straight points in the game.

“Our guys were locked in from the very start,” said Tonagel. “Some of that had to do with it being a rivalry game. Getting our guys to lock in wasn’t hard because of the rivalry nature of this game.”

Indiana Wesleyan led by double digits the entire second half and built the lead to as many as 21 points late. Garvin Haughey drilled a 3-pointer with 44 seconds left to put IWU up 71-50. IWU has now won seven of the last nine meetings between the two Grant County programs.

Weidner joined the Mahurin brothers as the only other Wildcat in double figures with 14 points. He was 6-of-11 shooting with 4 rebounds and 6 assists. DJ Bettinger added seven points and four steals while Bob Peters scored eight points with three assists.

The Wildcats shot 52.9-percent (27 of 51) from the floor and won the battle of the boards 37-26. IWU shot 63.6-percent (14 of 22) during the second half when they hit 4-of-6 from 3-point range.

The fans in attendance were also treated by a halftime performance by Blake Whiteley and Brianna Caprice. Whiteley sang a few songs during halftime, including the song he wrote titled ‘IWU Anthem.’ The song is played as part of the video package before each Indiana Wesleyan game in Luckey. Caprice sang one song with Whiteley and also sang the ‘National Anthem.’

Indiana Wesleyan remains home for their next game which will be against Spring Arbor (Mich.) on Saturday. Tip-off is set for 3 p.m. in Luckey Arena.