GAME NOTES
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TERRE HAUTE, Ind. -- The men's basketball teams from Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology and Earlham College square off in the annual John Mutchner Cup Game on Wednesday night in Richmond.
The Fightin' Engineers will put a six-game winning streak on the line in the matchup after improving to 7-4 on the season. Rose-Hulman is 3-1 in Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference action and tied for first place in the league standings.
Earlham seeks its first win of the season after falling 95-82 to Franklin College on Saturday. The contest features a pair of first-year coaches in Rose-Hulman's Rusty Loyd and Earlham's Jason Polykoff.
Rose-Hulman topped Bluffton 62-53 on Saturday for its sixth consecutive victory. The streak also includes wins over HCAC foes Manchester and Transylvania, along with non-conference teams Millikin, Blackburn and Illinois Tech.
Senior Corey Povaleri leads the balanced Fightin' Engineer scoring attack at 11.6 points per game, with junior Matt Loesing at 10.1. Junior Tyler Duffy (9.9 ppg), junior Jimmy Miller (9.8 ppg) and sophomore Wade Stallings (4.4 ppg) round out the starting lineup.
Earlham is led by freshman Elijah Wilson-Thomas at 12.7 points per game. Junior Taylen Alexander adds 11.5 points per game, and freshman Patrick Hawkins pitches in 7.5 points per contest.
The annual John Mutchner Cup Game is named in honor of the all-time winningest men's basketball coach at Rose-Hulman who was also a standout student-athlete at Earlham. Mutchner has been inducted into the Athletic Hall of Fame at both institutions. Rose-Hulman leads the Mutchner Cup Series 10-5 overall and is 7-1 against Earlham in HCAC play.
After Wednesday's game, Rose-Hulman returns to action at home against HCAC co-leader Defiance College on Saturday at 3 p.m.
