ALLIANCE, Ohio—The Mount Union men's basketball team jumped out to an early 10-point lead and led wire-to-wire in defeating Ohio Northern, 67-57, Saturday afternoon. The Purple Raiders (9-14, 5-11) keep their Ohio Athletic Conference Tournament hopes alive as they sit in a three-way tie for seventh place after sweeping the season series against the Polar Bears.

The Raiders never trailed, opening the game on a 10-0 run, which began with and was capped by three-pointers from freshman Stevie Griffin (Canton/Massillon Jackson). Matt Piloto (Lemon Bay, Fla./Rotonda West) scored on a layup and Nate Jacubec (Struthers/Struthers) converted a pair of free throws in between Griffin's long-balls. Ohio Northern responded with seven straight points but was unable to get any closer the rest of the way as the Raiders continued connecting from deep to take a 36-27 lead into halftime. Mount Union finished the half with eight three-pointers, including three from Griffin and two each from Jimmy Wood (Wintersville/Indian Creek) and T.J. Gillespie (Toledo/St. John's).

Despite putting Ohio Northern in the bonus with 11:22 to play, the Raiders were able to maintain a double-digit lead most of the second half. Their largest lead came off a putback by Wood to go ahead 57-42 with 4:45 to play.

Jacubec led all scorers with 18 points, Griffin added 17 points, and Wood had 16 points to go along with six rebounds. Piloto grabbed a game-high seven rebounds in addition to scoring a career-high five points. Gillespie contributed nine points and four assists of the bench for the Raiders.

Ohio Northern (11-12, 7-9) did not have a single starter score double-figures. Jordan Martin (13 points), Taylor Kuhlman (11 points), and Dominique Royal (9 points) led the way as the Polar Bears held a 35-11 bench scoring advantage.

Mount Union returns to the McPherson Academic and Athletic Complex Wednesday night when they host Baldwin-Wallace at 7:30 pm.

Newspaper Box Score

Ohio Northern vs Mount Union
02/11/12 3 pm at The MAAC - Alliance, Ohio
At The MAAC - Alliance, Ohio

MOUNT UNION 67, OHIO NORTHERN 57

OHIO NORTHERN (11-12, 7-9 OAC)
Jordan Martin 5-8 2-4 13; Taylor Kuhlman 4-5 1-3 11; Dominique Royal 4-8 0-0
9; Branden Rushton 4-8 0-1 9; Adam Bair 2-7 2-2 6; Scott Schnelle 1-4 3-4 5;
Logan Conley 0-1 2-2 2; Tony Meyer 1-2 0-0 2; Lucas Pennington 0-1 0-0 0;
Jared Horstman 0-3 0-0 0; Jason Faykosh 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 21-47 10-16 57.

MOUNT UNION (9-14, 5-11 OAC)
Nate Jacubec 6-12 4-4 18; Stevie Griffin 6-8 2-2 17; Jimmy Wood 5-10 4-7 16;
T.J. Gillespie 3-7 1-2 9; Matt Piloto 2-3 1-6 5; Keith Williams 1-2 0-0 2;
Matt Wier 0-2 0-0 0; Clayton Patton 0-0 0-0 0; Justen Little 0-2 0-0 0.
Totals 23-46 12-21 67.

Ohio Northern.................   27   30  -   57
Mount Union...................   36   31  -   67

3-point goals--Ohio Northern 5-17 (Taylor Kuhlman 2-2; Branden Rushton 1-3;
Dominique Royal 1-1; Jordan Martin 1-4; Tony Meyer 0-1; Lucas Pennington
0-1; Jared Horstman 0-2; Adam Bair 0-3), Mount Union 9-20 (Stevie Griffin
3-5; T.J. Gillespie 2-4; Jimmy Wood 2-4; Nate Jacubec 2-6; Matt Wier 0-1).
Fouled out--Ohio Northern-None, Mount Union-None. Rebounds--Ohio Northern 26
(Branden Rushton 6), Mount Union 31 (Matt Piloto 7). Assists--Ohio Northern
7 (Branden Rushton 3), Mount Union 15 (T.J. Gillespie 4; Justen Little 4).
Total fouls--Ohio Northern 16, Mount Union 19. Technical fouls--Ohio
Northern-Tony Meyer, Mount Union-None. A-820