ALLIANCE, Ohio—The Mount Union men's basketball team was unable to overcome scoring just 15 points in the first half and dropped an Ohio Athletic Conference game to first-place Capital, 63-49, Saturday afternoon at the McPherson Academic and Athletic Complex.

Freshman Stevie Griffin (Canton/Massillon Jackson) paced the Purple Raiders (8-11, 4-8) with 14 points. Sophomore T.J. Gillespie (Toledo/St. John's) provided a spark with 12 points off the bench and senior Jimmy Wood (Wintersville/Indian Creek) had 10 points.

Captial (12-7, 9-3) received a game-high 21 points from junior Michael Sommer, who connected on five trifectas in the game. Fellow junior Ben Jackson grabbed a game-high 10 rebounds to go along with seven points and a pair of blocked shots.

Mount Union trailed 11-0 and did not score until 13:32 to play in the first half on a three-pointer by junior Justen Little (Galion/Galion). The Raiders got as close as seven points on a second Little three-pointer with 1:59 left in the half, but entered the locker room at halftime down just 10 points, 25-15, in spite of shooting 12.9-percent from the field.

The Crusaders used a 16-5 run midway through the second half to extend their lead to 19 with ten minutes to go. The Raiders continued to battle, but were unable to get closer than 13. They finished the game 14-of-56 from the field (.246) but connected on 15-of-16 free throw attempts (.938).

Mount Union goes back on the road for a pair of OAC games next week. They travel to Muskingum Wednesday for a 7:30 pm tip-off.

Newspaper Box Score

Capital vs Mount Union
01/28/12 3 pm at The MAAC - Alliance, Ohio
At The MAAC - Alliance, Ohio

CAPITAL 63, MOUNT UNION 49

CAPITAL (12-7, 9-3 OAC)
Michael Sommer 8-15 0-0 21; Spencer Niekamp 2-8 4-7 8; Ben Jackson 2-6 3-4
7; Mitch Westerheide 3-6 1-1 7; Tyler Munro 2-4 0-0 5; Kelly Winter 1-4 3-4
5; Jared Cashen 1-1 2-2 4; Ben Danhoff 1-2 2-2 4; Damon Dillard 1-1 0-0 2;
Tim Cammon 0-0 0-0 0; Daniel Ocke 0-0 0-0 0; Adam Blake 0-1 0-0 0; Chad
Johnson 0-0 0-0 0; Tim Congrove 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 21-48 15-20 63.

MOUNT UNION (8-11, 4-8 OAC)
Stevie Griffin 4-13 4-4 14; T.J. Gillespie 3-11 5-5 12; Jimmy Wood 3-13 4-4
10; Justen Little 2-2 0-0 6; Matt Wier 1-4 2-3 4; Nate Jacubec 1-11 0-0 3;
Matt Piloto 0-1 0-0 0; Jimmy Darnley 0-0 0-0 0; Matt Kiger 0-0 0-0 0;
Clayton Patton 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 14-57 15-16 49.

Capital ...........................   25   38  -   63
Mount Union...................   15   34  -   49

3-point goals--Capital 6-18 (Michael Sommer 5-8; Tyler Munro 1-3;
Mitch Westerheide 0-1; Adam Blake 0-1; Spencer Niekamp 0-5), Mount Union
6-27 (Justen Little 2-2; Stevie Griffin 2-8; Nate Jacubec 1-6; T.J.
Gillespie 1-6; Clayton Patton 0-1; Jimmy Wood 0-4). Fouled out--Capital
-None, Mount Union-None. Rebounds--Capital 37 (Ben
Jackson 10), Mount Union 36 (Matt Wier 6). Assists--Capital 12
(Mitch Westerheide 5), Mount Union 8 (Justen Little 3; Matt Wier 3). Total
fouls--Capital 15, Mount Union 17. Technical fouls--Capital
-None, Mount Union-None. A-662