ADA, Ohio - Senior forward Stevie Griffin (Canton/Massillon Jackson) scored a season-high 22 points to lead Mount Union to a 86-79 victory over Ohio Northern on Saturday.

Griffin had double figure help from Nate Jacubec (Struthers/Struthers) with 19 points, Cody Dillon (Newton Falls/Newton Falls) with 14 points and Jarrett Ruffin (Northfield/Nordonia) with 11 points.

The Purple Raiders improve their record to 16-5 on the season and remain in second place in the Ohio Athletic Conference with a 12-2 conference record.

Ohio Northern (10-11, 5-9 OAC) was led by Joey Hurless with 14 points and Travis Feitshans with a dozen points off the bench.

Mount Union jumped out to an early 12-4 lead in the first five minutes of the first half. The Raiders extended their lead to 14 points, 26-12, with 7:58 to go before halftime. Ohio Northern got back into the game with a 23-10 run to end the half which included scoring the last six points of the period. Mount Union led by just one, 36-35, at the break.

Ohio Northern scored the first basket in the second half to take the lead 37-36. This was the final time the Polar Bears would lead in the game. The Raiders scored the next eight points of the game to take a seven point lead with 17:21 remaining in the regulation.

The Raiders led by 12 at the 12:00 mark before a 23-8 Polar Bear run cut the lead to just three, 65-62, with 7:36 left to play. However, the Raider responded with a 13-4 run, including eight straight points by Jacubec, to take the lead back to a dozen with 3:37 remaining.

Ohio Northern made back-to-back three-pointers in the final minute of the game to trim the lead to the final magin of seven points.

The men's basketball team will host undefeated and nationally ranked No. 3 Marietta on Wednesday at 7:30 pm in the McPherson Academic and Athletic Complex in Alliance.