ALLIANCE, Ohio- Mount Union men's basketball team defeated Ohio Athletic Conference opponent Ohio Nothern, 79-71 Saturday afternoon. 

The Purple Raiders (6-2, 2-1 OAC) were led by JJ Kukura (Alliance/Alliance) who posted 23 points and nine rebounds. Four other Raiders had 10 points or more including DeAllen Jackson (Akron/Hoban) with 13, Miles Griffin (Massillon/Jackson) with 11 while Nathan Bower-Malone (Stow/Stow) and Andrew Francesconi (Tallmadge/Tallmadge) posted 10 points.

Ohio Northern got 16 points from Ryan Bruns as they fall to 3-4 on the season and 2-1 in OAC play. 

The Raiders got off to a 14-3 start as Kukura had the first eight points of the game. The Polar Bears got their own run to get within five points of the Raiders, 25-20, with 11:40 left in the first half. 

Ohio Northern pushed for a three point lead over Mount Union, 36-33, and kept their lead to three going into the break up 44-41. 

An 8-0 start in the beginning of the second half put the Raiders up by five points, 49-44. Ohio Northern brought it back within one, 53-52, with 14:40 left. 

Mount Union went up six points on Ohio Northern, 61-56 but a six point run put the Polar Bears back within one point of the Raiders, 62-61, with 7:40 to go. 

Three ties and five lead changes occured in the last seven minutes of the game as the Raiders went on an 8-0 run with 3:04 left and took the game from the Polar Bears 79-71.  

Mount Union next travels to Heidelberg Saturday, December 17 for a 2:00 PM OAC match-up in Tiffin, Ohio