TERRE HAUTE, IND. -- Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology held Transylvania University to just 26% from the field and relied on a balanced scoring attack to earn a 66-38 men's basketball victory on Saturday afternoon.
Freshman Wade Stallings (Indianapolis/North Central) led the Rose-Hulman offense with a career-high 12 points on 4-4 from the field and 3-4 on the foul line. Senior Julian Strickland (Indianapolis/Pike) also reached double figures with 11 points and a game-high eight rebounds.
The balanced attack also featured senior Jake Dodd (St. Peters, Mo./Missouri-St. Louis) with nine points; sophomore Tyler Duffy (Fishers/Hamilton Southeastern) with nine points, five rebounds and four assists; senior Alec Houpt (Chesterton) with eight points; and sophomore Jimmy Miller (Indianapolis/North Central) with seven points.
Mason Monroe led the Transylvania offense with nine points, and Joe Jennings added eight points and eight rebounds for the Pioneers.
The Rose-Hulman defense was equally impressive, holding Transylvania to just 13-50 from the floor (26%) and 3-21 from three-point range (14%). The Fightin' Engineers allowed just five points in the first 11 minutes of play, then held Transylvania without a field goal for eight minutes during the second half.
Rose-Hulman quickly jumped out to a 10-2 lead on three-pointers by Miller and Strickland. The lead readched 18-5 with 12:03 left in the first half on a pair of Strickland free throws.
Transylvania trimmed the margin to 12 points at 23-11 on a Jennings field goal with 6:35 left in the first half. Rose-Hulman pushed the lead back to 18 points at 29-11 on a Dodd layup and maintained an 18-point lead at the break.
In the second half, Rose-Hulman pushed the margin to 20 points on a score by senior Jordy Martin (New Albany) to open the scoring and never looked back.
Rose-Hulman remains in a three-way tie for first place in the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference standings at 13-4 and 8-2 in league play. Defiance and Mount St. Joseph are also tied with the Fightin' Engineers at 8-2 in conference games. Rose-Hulman hosts Anderson University on Wednesday night.