MARION, Indiana - The Marian College men's basketball team traveled to Indiana Wesleyan on Tuesday night and were able to outplay the No. 6-ranked Wildcats for 30 minutes, but were overpowered by IWU's size under the basket in a 72-55 defeat at Luckey Arena.
The Knights dug themselves a nine-point hole, 19-10, over the first 9:20 of the game and found themselves down by 10, 27-17, with 6:52 remaining in the half. However, they dug out of that hole on the strength of an 8-0 run in just 1:37 to cut the gap to two, 27-25, with 5:12 to go in the first stanza.
The Wildcats pushed the lead back to six, 31-25, with 4:16 to go, but the Knights closed the half with a 5-0 run to head into the locker room down just one, 31-30.
The second half started on the same note as the teams traded buckets with IWU unable to gain more than a four-point lead through the first 6:27 of the half. However, with the score 43-39, the Wildcats went on an 7-0 run of their own to take an 11-point lead, 50-39, with 11:28 remaining.
The Knights staged a rally with a quick five-point burst to cut the lead to six, 52-46, with 9:04 remaining in the game. A 6-0 IWU run opened the lead back to 12, 58-46, with 7:33 remaining and the Knights could get no closer as IWU outscored the Knights 14-6 over the final 7:33 to earn the 72-55 victory.
The defeat dropped the Knights to 9-7 overall and 0-6 in Mid-Central College Conference play while the No. 6 Wildcats improved to 17-3 overall and 5-1 in the MCC.
Sophomore Jordan Tucker (Kirklin, Indiana/Clinton Central) shared the game-high of 21 points with Zach Coverstone and had a team-high five rebounds. Redshirt sophomore Matt Allee (Greenwood, Indiana/Greenwood) added five boards and five points while freshman Jameson Wheeler (Plainfield, Indiana/Plainfield) had a game-high five assists.
The Knights remain on the road when they head to Goshen College on Saturday afternoon. The game will tip-off at 3 p.m., and will be broadcast LIVE on XL 950 (WXLW) with Brad Wochomurka calling all the action beginning at 2:50 p.m.