NEW CONCORD, Ohio—The Mount Union men's basketball team was unable to rally from an 11-point halftime deficit in falling on the road to Muskingum, 63-60, Wednesday night.

The Purple Raiders (8-12, 4-9) took an 8-0 lead in the opening four minutes of the game on a pair of baskets by freshman Stevie Griffin (Canton/Massillon Jackson) and senior Matt Wier (New Castle/Mohawk), but Muskingum answered with an 18-3 run of their own. Mount Union managed just 1-of-14 on three-pointers and 8-of-32 from the field overall to trail 30-19 at halftime.

Muskingum continued its momentum into the second half and took their largest lead of the game at 57-40 with 8:19 to play. A 20-5 run by the Raiders pulled them to within 62-60 in the final minute. After J.J. Armstrong split a pair of free throws for Muskingum, the Raiders had one final chance to send the game to overtime, but an untimely turnover ended their hopes.

Griffin paced the Purple Raiders with 16 points and a game-high eight rebounds. Twelve of his points came in the second stanza. Fellow freshman Nate Jacubec (Struthers/Struthers) added 13 points for the Raiders.

Muskingum (8-12, 5-8) received a game-high 21 points from senior Kyle Clinedinst. Josh Brindley and Carson Thomas added 15 points and 10 points, respectively.

Mount Union will travel to Wilmington on Saturday for a 3 pm tip-off.

Newspaper Box Score

Mount Union vs Muskingum

2/1/12 7:30pm at Recreation Center

At Recreation Center

MUSKINGUM 63, MOUNT UNION 60

MOUNT UNION (8-12,4-9)
Stevie Griffin 6-9 1-2 16; Nate Jacubec 4-14 4-7 13; Jimmy Wood 2-9 3-4 8;
Matt Wier 3-6 2-2 8; Matt Kiger 2-4 3-5 7; T.J. Gillespie 1-6 2-2 5; Matt
Piloto 1-4 0-0 2; Clayton Patton 0-4 1-2 1; Jimmy Darnley 0-0 0-0 0; Justen
Little 0-1 0-0 0; Keith Williams 0-0 0-2 0. Totals 19-57 16-26 60.

MUSKINGUM (8-12,5-8)
Kyle Clinedinst 7-13 4-6 21; Josh Brindley 5-11 4-4 15; Carson Thomas 4-8
0-0 10; JJ Armstrong 1-3 3-4 6; Phil Ellis 1-2 4-6 6; Logan Kimble 1-1 2-2
5; George Williams 0-0 0-0 0; Isaiah Shakespeare 0-1 0-0 0; Clay Owings 0-4
0-0 0. Totals 19-43 17-22 63.

Mount Union...................   19   41  -   60
Muskingum.....................   30   33  -   63

3-point goals--Mount Union 6-21 (Stevie Griffin 3-5; Nate Jacubec 1-6; T.J.
Gillespie 1-3; Jimmy Wood 1-4; Clayton Patton 0-2; Matt Wier 0-1), Muskingum
8-18 (Kyle Clinedinst 3-5; Carson Thomas 2-6; JJ Armstrong 1-2; Logan Kimble
1-1; Josh Brindley 1-3; Isaiah Shakespeare 0-1). Fouled out--Mount
Union-None, Muskingum-None. Rebounds--Mount Union 44 (Stevie Griffin 8),
Muskingum 27 (Kyle Clinedinst 7). Assists--Mount Union 7 (Nate Jacubec 3),
Muskingum 12 (Carson Thomas 3; Josh Brindley 3; Kyle Clinedinst 3; JJ
Armstrong 3). Total fouls--Mount Union 19, Muskingum 20. Technical
fouls--Mount Union-None, Muskingum-None. A-630