ALLIANCE, Ohio -- Mount Union's men's basketball team suffered an 82-79 loss to Otterbein Saturday in the Ohio Athletic Conference opener at the McPherson Academic and Athletic Complex in Alliance.

Chris Davis, who led the OAC in scoring and rebounding a year, picked up right where he left off as he had a double-double with 29 points and 11 rebounds to pace Otterbein (2-3, 1-0 OAC).  

Mount Union (3-3, 0-1 OAC) senior Jimmy Wood (Wintersville/Indian Creek) matched his season-high with 29 points.  Freshman Nate Jacubec (Struthers/Struthers) had 12 points while junior Matt Kiger (Williamstown, W.Va./Williamstown) came off the bench with 11 points as the other two Raiders in double figures.

The Raiders led by as many as nine points, 29-20, on a Jordan Albert (Pittsburgh, Pa./Upper St. Clair) jumper with 3:28 left in the first half, but went scoreless the rest of the frame and took a 29-23 lead into the lockers.

Mount Union kept the lead early in the second half and it was 38-33 when Kiger made a basket with 15:21 to play.

Otterbein then took control with a 21-4 run over the next six minutes to lead 54-42 with just over nine minutes left.

The Raiders rallied, getting the margin down to six as a Clayton Patton (Bolivar/Tuscawaras Valley) three-pointer made it 64-58 with just over four minutes to play.

The Cardinals responded with four straight points to retake control. A Mount Union three-pointer at the buzzer made it 82-79.

Mount Union stays home to host John Carroll on Wednesday, December 7th at 7:30 pm at the MAAC. 

Newspaper Box Score

Otterbein vs Mount Union

12/03/11 4 pm at Alliance, Ohio

OTTERBEIN 82, MOUNT UNION 79

OTTERBEIN (2-3, 1-0 OAC) Chris Davis 10-15 9-14 29; Max Van Meter 5-11 7-11 18; RaNeal Ewing 4-8 8-817; C.J. Julian 2-4 0-0 6; Brice Rausch 1-3 2-4 4; Colin Echelberry 1-1 0-03; Jason Davis 1-2 0-0 2; Zach Bakenhaster 1-1 0-0 2; Andy Yazrombek 0-2 1-41; Steve Isaac 0-0 0-0 0; Tommy Waterwash 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 25-47 27-41 82.

MOUNT UNION (3-3, 0-1 OAC) Jimmy Wood 11-18 2-3 29; Nate Jacubec 3-8 5-6 12; Matt Kiger 5-5 1-2 11;Clayton Patton 2-2 2-2 8; Steve Griffin 2-5 0-2 5; Matt Wier 1-6 1-2 4;Keith Williams 1-2 0-0 3; Jordan Albert 1-3 0-0 3; Justen Little 0-1 2-3 2;T.J. Gillespie 1-5 0-0 2; Jimmy Darnley 0-0 0-0 0; Tom Berlekamp 0-1 0-0 0.Totals 27-56 13-20 79.

Otterbein.....................   23   59  -   82

Mount Union...................   29   50  -   79

3-point goals--Otterbein 5-11 (C.J. Julian 2-4; Max Van Meter 1-2; RaNealEwing 1-2; Colin Echelberry 1-1; Andy Yazrombek 0-2), Mount Union 12-24(Jimmy Wood 5-8; Clayton Patton 2-2; Jordan Albert 1-1; Nate Jacubec 1-4;Matt Wier 1-2; Steve Griffin 1-3; Keith Williams 1-1; Tom Berlekamp 0-1;T.J. Gillespie 0-1; Justen Little 0-1). Fouled out--Otterbein-None, MountUnion-Matt Kiger; Steve Griffin. Rebounds--Otterbein 32 (Chris Davis 11),Mount Union 29 (Jimmy Wood 6). Assists--Otterbein 10 (Max Van Meter 3;RaNeal Ewing 3), Mount Union 15 (Justen Little 7). Total fouls--Otterbein16, Mount Union 27. Technical fouls--Otterbein-None, Mount Union-TEAM. A-685