MARION, Ind. -- No. 1-ranked Indiana Wesleyan University men’s basketball handed Grant County rival Taylor (Ind.) its worse loss of the season on Tuesday in a 75-51 blowout in Luckey Arena.

Bob Peters (SO/Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio) scored seven seconds into the game and the Wildcats never trailed in a dominating performance. Eleven different players scored in the win and the team hit on 28-of-52 (53.8-percent) of their field goal attempts.

Indiana Wesleyan led 18-17 before a 9-0 run spread the lead to 10 points. Capping the spurt was a four point play from Peters. An Aaron Murray (SO/Louisville, Ky.) dunk late in the half capped the scoring as IWU led 37-22 at the break. The lead increased to as many as 25 points in the second half before Indiana Wesleyan came away with the 75-51 victory.

Defensively, Indiana Wesleyan limited Taylor to just 17-of-47 (36.2-percent) shooting. Taylor’s starting five were held to a combined 34 points.

“I was proud of them,” Indiana Wesleyan head coach Greg Tonagel said of the defense. “It was a team effort but it started with Zac Vandewater (SR/Warsaw, Ind.). We had better rotations than we’ve had and much more intensity. It showed on the stat sheet.”

Kyle Stidom, who leads Taylor with 15.0 points per game, was limited to a career-low three points. He was 0-of-7 shooting as he scored all of his point from the free throw line.

“Zac did a great job on him,” continued Tonagel. “He has fully bought into his role. His role is to guard people. He relishes that role and doesn’t complain.”

Peters led all players with 17 points and 7 assists. Vandewater and Mawhorr each added 10 points while Lane Mahurin (SO/Rockville, Ind.) contributed 9 points. Murray finished with eight points and Tyler Greathouse (SR/Columbus, Ind.) chipped in seven points.

Indiana Wesleyan improves to 25-2 on the season and 13-2 in the Crossroads League. Taylor drops their ninth straight game and falls to 11-16 and 2-13 in league play.

Indiana Wesleyan can clinch a share of their seventh straight Crossroads League regular season title at their next game on Saturday when they host Spring Arbor (Mich.) at 3 p.m. IWU holds a two game lead over Bethel (Ind.) and Saint Francis (Ind.) with just three games remaining on the schedule.