MARIETTA, Ohio - Mount Union won the Ohio Athletic Conference Men's Basketball Tournament title with an 85-81 win Saturday at Marietta.  It is the Purple Raiders first tournament title since 1997.

Mount Union, now 22-6 overall, claim the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament with the selections being announced Monday at 12:30 p.m. on NCAA.com.

The Purple Raiders got a career-high 21 points off the bench from freshman JJ Kukura (Alliance/Alliance) and 20 points from OAC Tournament Most Valuable Player DeAllen Jackson (Akron/Archbishop Hoban).

Cody Dillon (Newton Falls/Newton Falls) scored 12 points and Nate Jacubec (Struthers/Struthers), who also named to the all-tournament team, added 11 points for Mount Union,

Marietta (25-3) had four players in double figures as RaNeal Ewing had 16 points, Garrett Stephenson with 14,  Eddy Grenert had 13 and Andy Dollman added 11 points as the Pioneers wait to see if they will get one of 19 national at-large bids from the NCAA.

Mount Union started the game on an 11-4 run to give itself an early seven point lead with 15:51 left in the half but Marietta responded by going on its own 11-5 run to close within a point and eventually the Pioneers tied the game at 18-18. 

Kukura came off the bench for the Raiders and scored the eight straight Mount Union points but the Raiders could only build a four point lead, 29-25, after a three-pointer from Michael Shull (Massillon/Massillon Jackson).

Marietta took their first lead of the game with a 5-0 run, making the score 30-29 with 5:28 until the break. The Pioneers held a one point a minute on the clock before Kukura hit his third three-pointer of the half. Marietta got a tip-in at the buzzer to tie the score at 42-42 going to the locker room.

Mount Union pushed the lead back out to seven points, 58-51 in the first five minutes of the second half and pushed that lead to 67-56 when Evan Keeslar (Green/Green) hit a layup with just under 12 minutes to play.

The Pioneers came back with a 14-0 run to retake the lead 70-67 with 5:49 to play.

The Raiders scored nine of the next 12 points and a Stevie Griffin (Massillon/Massillon Jackson) layup gave Mount Union a 76-73 lead with 2:19 left.

Marietta managed just one field goal the rest of the way while Mount Union made 7-of-8 free throws in the final minute to close out the win.