ALLIANCE, Ohio -- Mount Union's men's basketball team suffered its third consecutive Ohio Athletic Conference loss falling 77-65 to Capital on Saturday at the McPherson Academic and Athletic Complex in Alliance.

Jimmy Wood (Wintersville/Indian Creek) led all scorers with a season-high 22 points while Dave Pellerite (Olmsted Falls/Olmsted Falls) contributed 15 points and six rebounds for the Purple Raiders, who led by as many as seven points in the first half.

Trailing 39-30 in the second half, Mount Union battled back with an 11-3 run. Pellerite had four points during the rally and T.J. Gillespie (Toledo/Toledo-St. John's) buried a 3-pointer to pull the Raiders within 42-41 with 14:58 remaining.

Capital's Adam Johns then answered with nine points -- all on 3-pointers -- to trigger a stretch in which the Crusaders outscored their hosts, 17-5. At that point, Capital held a 59-46 lead with 9:38 left.

The Raiders pulled within 10 points three separate times, but could not lessen the gap any more.

Mount Union built an early 13-6 advantage, but the Crusaders cashed in seven straight ducats to knot a 13-all tie.

The Raiders held leads of five-or-more points on five separate occasions; the game also saw five different ties before Capital pulled into the lead with 1:43 left in the first half. Tyler Munro hit one of his five three-pointers for the visitors to give them a 32-29 edge before the contest went into halftime at 33-30.

Johns led the Capital (14-5, 9-3 OAC) attack with a season-best 20 points off the bench and Munro put in 17. Spencer Niekamp and Scott Robertson put in 12 points apiece and Kelly Winter grabbed six boards as the Crusaders (14-5, 9-3) outrebounded Mount Union, 34-21.

The Purple Raiders (8-11, 6-6 OAC) return to action on Wednesday, Feb. 2 when they host OAC foe Muskingum for a 7:30 p.m. start at The MAAC