ALLIANCE, Ohio - Mount Union's men's basketball team dropped their first conference game to Wilmington, 88-87, in the McPherson Academic and Athletic Complex on Saturday.

The Purple Raiders (9-4, 5-1 OAC) were led by Taylor Moore (North Canton/Hoover) who came off the bench and tied his season-high with 16 points. 

Nate Jacubec (Struthers/Struthers) and DeAllen Jackson (Akron/Archbishop Hoban) both had 15 points, Jarrett Ruffin (Northfield/Nordonia) chipped in 11 points and Stevie Griffin (Canton/Massillon Jackson) was also in double figures with 10 points.

Wilmington (5-7, 2-4 OAC) was led by Jonathan Bibbs with 17 points. RJ Leppert and John Righter chipped in 15 points apiece for the Quakers.

The first half was back and fourth, six different lead changes and eight separate ties. Mount Union took an early five point advantage, 14-9 with 15:50 in the first half, which was thier largest of the first half. Wilmington also led by as many as five on two occasions, the latter being 37-32 with 7:43 remaining in the half.

The Raiders were down four with :35 seconds in the half when Jackson tipped in his own miss to cut the lead to two, 48-46 going to the second half.

The Raiders then scored the first five points of the second half on a Jacubec three-pointer and fast break layup. The game was tied for the 15th time at 67-67 before Wilmington went on a 10-4 run to take a 77-71 lead, their largest of the game.

An 8-2 run by the Raiders tied the game again with 5:28 left in the game. The teams traded baskets for the next few minutes and the game was locked at 83-83 with 2:16 to play. Mount Union scored the next two baskets to lead by four with just over a minute in regulation.

Wilmington ended the game on a 5-0 run to take the 88-87 win.

The men's basketball team travels to Muskingum University on Saturday, January 14 to take on the Muskies at 7:30pm.