Sophomore guard Brandon Short (left) scored six quick points and senior forward Jadin Thomas and senior guard Ben Falkenberg added two points apiece as the Cougars (9-3) got off to a quick 10-0 start.

After a three-pointer by Kyle Bradley at the 16:22 mark closed the gap to 10-3, MVNU went on a 55-19 run to lead 65-22 before a three-pointer by the Scarlet Wave’s Cody Beery made it 65-25 at the break.

Short finished with 12 first-half points as he went 5-for-5 from the field. Thomas registered a double-double in just 11 minutes with 10 points and 10 rebounds, while Falkenberg added eight points and six assists. Junior wing Travis Brown also tossed in 11 points off the bench as he went 3-for-3 from three-point range. The Cougars shot 61.9 percent from the field (26-for-42), 52.9 percent from three-point range (9-for-17), and made all four of their free throw attempts.

Ohio State-Marion (2-10) was led by T.J. Legge with eight first-half points, while Berry added six points. The Scarlet Wave shot 31.0 percent from the field (9-for-29), 21.4 percent from three-point range (3-for-14), and made all four of their free throw attempts.

The second half proved to be more of the same for both teams as the Cougars shooting improved to 64.3 percent from the field (27-for-42) in the second half as MVNU out-scored Ohio State-Marion 60-30 over the final 20 minutes despite no starter playing more than five minutes as the Cougars finished with a 125-55 victory.

“Everybody got involved tonight,” said MVNU coach Scott Flemming. “These are not always easy games to keep your focus, but overall I thought we did a pretty good job. I give Ohio State-Marion credit for playing hard to the end.”

Brown finished with a career-high 21 points off the bench to lead the Cougars, while Short added 18 points on 8-of-8 shooting from the field. Thomas contributed 14 points and 12 rebounds, while freshman guard Robbie Taylor and freshman post Scott Hilbert both posted career highs with 14 points apiece. Sophomore forward Adam Grimm (right) tossed in 12 points off the bench, and Falkenberg finished with his first career double-double with 10 points and a career-high 11 assists while taking just six shots. He has now moved within 20 points of second place on the MVNU career scoring list occupied by former standout and current women’s coach Steve Gregory (2,242 points).

For the game, the Cougars shot 63.1 percent from the field (53-for-84), 41.4 percent from three-point range (12-for-29), and 70.0 percent at the free throw line (7-for-10). The MVNU bench out-scored the Scarlet Wave reserves 74-12, and every Cougar player saw at least 11 minutes of action with Taylor logging the most minutes (20) of anyone - in a reserve roll. MVNU also posted a commanding 57-19 rebounding advantage that included grabbing more offensive rebounds (22) than Ohio State-Marion’s total rebounds.

Legge led the Scarlet Wave with a game-high 23 points and seven rebounds, while Bradley finished with 12 points. Ohio State-Marion shot 32.3 percent from the field (21-for-65), 21.9 percent from three-point range (7-for-32), and made all six of their free throw attempts.

“It gets a lot tougher from here on,” said Flemming. “We will be playing ranked teams or very strong teams on the road over the next few weeks. Hopefully, we are ready for the challenge.”

The first ranked opponent looms on Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. CST when the Cougars begin their two-game swing through Texas with a match-up with No. 4 Oklahoma Wesleyan University (11-1) at Southwestern Assemblies of God University. Then, MVNU will take on Southwestern Assemblies of God on Thursday also at 7:30 p.m. CST. Both games will be carried live on WNZR 90.9 FM and http://wnzr.fm/sports.html.