ALLIANCE, Ohio -- Mount Union's men's basketball team suffered a 62-59 loss to Muskingum in an Ohio Athletic Conference matchup Wednesday at the McPherson Academic and Athletic Complex.

It was the sixth straight loss for the Purple Raiders (3-7, 0-5 OAC) and five of those six losses have been by six points or less.

Josh Brindley had a game-high 20 points and eight rebounds while Carson Thomas had five three-pointers and 16 points to lead Muskingum (3-7, 1-4 OAC) to its first OAC win of the season.

Mount Union got 15 points from Jimmy Wood (Wintersville/Indian Creek), Matt Kiger (Williamstown, W.Va./Williamstown) had 11 points and six rebounds in his first start of the season while Nate Jacubec (Struthers/Struthers) and Keith Williams (Louisville, Ky./Brown) each had 11 and 10 respectively.

The Muskies took an early 9-2 lead in the game's opening minutes before the Raiders rallied to tie the game at 9-9 on a Williams layup with 12:14 left in the half.  The rest of the half featured five ties and five lead changes before back-to-back three pointers by Wood and Jacubec gave Mount Union a 31-29 lead at the half.

The Raiders extended the lead to six, 35-29, on a pair of Kiger layups to start the half, but Muskingum would score 14 of the next 15 points to match its largest lead of the game at seven points, 43-36 with 12:40 to play.

Mount Union would rally again this time with a 10-2 run and retook the lead, 46-45 on a Jimmy Darnley (Canton/GlenOak) layup with just over 10 minutes left.

There were four more lead changes and the score was tied with 2:40 to play when Brindley hit a layup and fouled, he converted the free throw which gave the Muskies a 60-57 lead at the 2:30 mark.  

Mount Union did not score another field goal the rest of the way including having the ball down one with 13 seconds to play.  The Raiders ended up with a 4:34 field goal drought to end the game.

Next up for Mount Union is a trip to Williamsport, Pa. to play in the Lycoming (Pa.) Tournament as the Raiders take on Immaculata (Pa.) on Monday Jan. 2 at 6 pm.

Newspaper Box Score

Muskingum vs Mount Union

12/21/11 7:30 pm at The MAC - Alliance, Ohio

MUSKINGUM 62, MOUNT UNION 59

MUSKINGUM (3-7, 1-4 OAC)

Josh Brindley 8-11 4-8 20; Carson Thomas 5-10 1-2 16; Kyle Clinedinst 5-113-9 13; Allen Harris 2-5 3-4 9; Isaiah Shakespeare 1-2 0-0 2; JJ Armstrong0-1 2-3 2; Logan Kimble 0-0 0-1 0; Reed Simpson 0-0 0-0 0; Clay Owings 0-10-0 0; Jonathan Primes 0-4 0-1 0; Brandon Paris 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 21-4513-28 62.

MOUNT UNION (3-7, 0-5 OAC)

Jimmy Wood 5-17 2-5 15; Matt Kiger 3-3 5-6 11; Nate Jacubec 4-14 1-2 11;Keith Williams 2-3 6-7 10; Clayton Patton 3-6 1-1 8; Jimmy Darnley 1-3 0-02; Matt Wier 1-4 0-0 2; Stevie Griffin 0-0 0-0 0; Colton Troyer 0-0 0-0 0;T.J. Gillespie 0-4 0-0 0; Cy Guertal 0-0 0-0 0; Justen Little 0-0 0-0 0.Totals 19-54 15-21 59.

Muskingum.....................   29   33  -   62

Mount Union...................   31   28  -   59

3-point goals--Muskingum 7-17 (Carson Thomas 5-9; Allen Harris 2-4; IsaiahShakespeare 0-1; Jonathan Primes 0-1; Kyle Clinedinst 0-2), Mount Union 6-22(Jimmy Wood 3-7; Nate Jacubec 2-9; Clayton Patton 1-2; Jimmy Darnley 0-1;T.J. Gillespie 0-3). Fouled out--Muskingum-None, Mount Union-Matt Kiger.Rebounds--Muskingum 34 (Kyle Clinedinst 8; Josh Brindley 8), Mount Union 31(Matt Kiger 6). Assists--Muskingum 8 (Kyle Clinedinst 4), Mount Union 9(Jimmy Wood 3). Total fouls--Muskingum 20, Mount Union 27. Technicalfouls--Muskingum-None, Mount Union-TEAM. A-387