WICHITA FALLS, Texas - No. 9 Midwestern State got just what it needed Wednesday night at D.L. Ligon Coliseum - a big win over a quality opponent.

Senior guard Michael Loyd score seven of the Mustangs' first nine points and finished with 16 to lead the Mustangs to a 77-53 thrashing of red-hot Incarnate Word.

The Cardinals had won seven of eight games rolling into 2012 and were coming off of a 62-51 win over league leading No. 3 Tarleton State Saturday night in San Antonio.

Midwestern scored the first nine points of the game and led by as many as 11 points in the opening half before Cardinals fought back to close the margin to 36-32 at halftime.

MSU made it a laugher by outpointing the Cardinals 41-21 in the second half pushing the lead to as many as 77-52 with 1:29 to play.

Michael Loyd completed a solid all-around night performance by adding seven rebounds and five assists, while Keonte' Logan connected on three 3-pointers to finish with 12 ponts and six assists.

Junior guard DeJuan Plummer added 11 points on 4-for-7 shooting off of the bench in including a trio of treys, while senior forward David Terrell had eight points and two rebounds.

The win was the Mustangs' 12th-straight win under the dome where they have now won 52 of their last 53 home games.

Chris Johnson tallied a game-high 23 points and grabbed nine rebounds for Incarnate Word, which fell to 13-9 and 9-6.