MARION -- Waterloo Columbus Coach John Holmes said he couldn't understand why his team started out so sluggish against the Marion Indians Tuesday night. Then he answered his own question.

"They're a very good team," Holmes said. "They play a real aggressive halfcourt man-to-man defense that caused way too many turnovers for our guys."

Indeed, the Sailors had seven turnovers in the first quarter alone, falling behind 15-3. Then they committed five more before taking a shot in the second quarter, had three others before the half and trailed by 20.

Marion, meanwhile, methodically scored almost at will on steals and layups to take an easy 63-27 Wamac Conference West Division win at Marion.

Holmes said it wasn't just the stifling defense that killed his undersized, undermanned squad. "It seems like every time they missed, they got the rebound," he said.

In fact, the much more burly Indians racked up 13 offensive boards for the night. Marion Coach Mike Manderscheid said he was pleased with the way his team rebounded from a 57-56 loss to Benton Community last Thursday.

"We came out and knew what we needed to do," he said. "We were solid in our halfcourt defense, made a lot of plays on the defensive end. And with our nine-man rotation, we got solid play from the starters and the guys off the bench all came through."

Behind 45-19 with four minutes gone in the third quarter, Holmes benched all five starters to see if the subs could make up for what he saw as a lack of intensity. Manderscheid began clearing his bench as well, but the  Indians still built a 57-22 lead with six minutes left as the clock ran continuously with a 35-point differential.

As usual, slick sharpshooting guard Kasey Semler led Marion (7-3, 7-2) with 22 points on 10 field goals with coaches from Mount Mercy and Kirkwood on hand to watch.

Columbus (1-11, 0-9) was led by 6-foot-5 center Tyler Roby, a distant cousin of former Hawkeye punter Reggie Roby, who had three layups and three free throws for nine points.

WATERLOO COLUMBUS (27): Adam Squires 1 0-0 3, Mike Letkewicz 0 0-0 0, Jacob Pratt 1 0-0 2, Jon Heinzman 1 0-0 3 Tyler Roby 3 3-4 9, Grant Foreman 0 0-0 0, Chris Sink 0 0-0 0, Andrew Huff 1 2-2 5, Alex Knipp 1 0-1 2, Robert Hart 0 0-0 0, Mitch Maiers 0 1-2 1, Shane Kemp 0 2-2 2, Kyle Weber 0 0-1 0, Alejandro Herrera 0 0-0 0, Nick Boswell 0 0-0 0, Drew Lederman 0 0-1 0. Totals: 8 8-13 27.

MARION (63): Dusty Albaugh 3 0-0 7, Tyler Fisher 2 0-0 4, Dylan Cronk 4 0-0 8, Kasey Semler 10 1-1 22, Dan Van Gorp 2 0-1 4, Cale Cannoy 2 2-2 6, Tre Kinney 1 0-2 2, Austin Hardman 2 0-0 4, Isaac Frazier 1 0-0 2, Jared Huhndorf 0 0-0 0, Josh Davila 0 0-0 0, Tyler Hedtke 1 0-0 2, Jake McDonald 1 0-1 2. Totals: 29 3-7 63.

Halftime -- Marion 35, Waterloo Columbus 15. 3-point goals - Waterloo Columbus 3 (Squires. Huff, Heinzman), Marion 2 (Albaugh, Semler).