UNIVERSITY HEIGHTS, Ohio - Mount Union's men's basketball team defeated John Carroll in a thrilling 89-88 overtime Ohio Atheltic Conference Semifinal contest Thursday night in the Tony DeCarlo Varsity Center.

The Purple Raiders (21-6) were led on the night by senior Nate Jacubec (Struthers/Struthers) and freshman JJ Kukura (Alliance/Alliance) who each scored a team-high 16 points.

Jarrett Ruffin (Northfield/Nordonia) and Kyle Scelza (Stow/Stow-Munroe Falls) added 14 points apiece while DeAllen Jackson (Akron/Archbishop Hoban) finished with 11 points.

John Carroll (20-6) was led by Jake Hollinger with 18 points and nine rebounds along with David Linane who scored 17 points and dished out 10 assists.

Danny Wallack scored 14 points, David Hendrickson scored 13 points and Will Starks scored 10 points including a buzzer-beating three-pointer to send the game to overtime.

John Carroll jumped out to an early 11-2 lead in the first three minutes of the contest. The Raiders rallied back and took the lead with an 11-0 run capped off by a Scelza three-pointer. The Blue Streaks took the lead back with a 7-0 run and led 18-13 with 11:09 left in the half.

Mount Union saw John Carroll's lead extended to as many as 12 points, 31-19, before Kukura mounted his own 8-2 run to cut the lead to five with 1:14 before the break. John Carroll scored the next two baskets before Michael Shull (Massillon/Massillon Jackson) converted a tip-in at the buzzer to bring the halftime score to 38-31.

In the second half Mount Union chipped into the John Carroll lead with four three-pointers in the first six minutes of the half. The Raiders brought the lead down to two points on numerous occasions but did not tie the game until Cody Dillon (Newton Falls/Newton Falls) hit a runner in the lane to tie the score at 61-61 with 5:55 left in the second half.

The Raiders finally took the advantage on Evan Keeslar's (Uniontown/Green) layup at the 5:00 mark. Mount Union scored the next seven points of the game including a Jackson three-pointer to give the Raiders a nine point lead, 72-63.

However, the Blue Steaks were not done. John Carroll went on a 9-3 run and closed the lead to just one point when Linane was fouled on a three-point attempt and hit all three free throws. Jackson made two free throws on the next possession to give the Raiders a 77-74 lead with 15 seconds left in regulation.

Mount Union got a defensive stop but turned the ball over on the ensuing inbound pass. John Carroll inbounded the ball to Starks who buried a desperation three-pointer over Ruffin's outstretched arms to send the game to overtime.

In the overtime period neither team led by more than two points. John Carroll took the lead on a Linane three-pointer but Kukura converted a three-point play on the other end to take the lead right back.

The Raiders had the final possession of the game and put the ball in the hand of the senior Jacubec. Jacubec was fouled and split the free throws to give Mount Union the 89-88 lead with two second left in the game.

The men's basketball team will travel to Marietta on Saturday to play the Pioneers for the OAC Tournament championship at 7:30 pm in the Ban Johnson Arena. This will be the second time in three seasons that these two teams will play each other for the championship.