ALLIANCE, Ohio -- The No. 23 ranked Mount Union men's basketball team never trailed as it defeated Otterbein 92-82 in an Ohio Athletic Confernece game Saturday at the McPherson Academic and Athletic Complex.

The Purple Raiders won their fifth straight game to stay in first place in the OAC at 4-0 and are 7-2 overall while Otterbein falls to 1-8 overall and 0-3 in the OAC.

Jarrett Ruffin (Northfield/Nordonia) had 19 points and Cody Dillon (Newton Falls/Newton Falls) had 18 points as five Mount Union players scored in double figures.

Taylor Moore (North Canton/Hoover) had 15, Jake Jacubec (Struthers/Struthers) 13 and J.J. Kukura (Alliance/Alliance) came off the bench with 12 for the Raiders.

Marc McCuen had 26 and Grant Fenner had 25 in the loss for Otterbein.

Jacubec's three pointer with 15:55 in the first half gave the Raiders a 12-0 lead. 

Mount Union extended the lead to 16 points, 27-11, on a Moore bucket with under nine minutes to go in the period and took a 41-34 lead into the half.

Otterbein closed to within a shot, 62-59 with 10 minutes to play but the Raiders scored seven of the next nine points -- five by Moore -- to go back up eight points, 69-61 with eight minutes to play and on to the 10-point win.

Mount Union is off until Dec. 28 when it plays Hood (Md.) at the Daytona Beach Shootout.