MARIETTA, Ohio - Mount Union's men's basketball team fell at No. 23 ranked Marietta, 96-78, in an Ohio Athletic Conference game Wednesday night. The loss takes the Purple Raiders to 9-5 overall and 4-3 in the OAC.

Three players scored in double figures for the Raiders as Andrew Francesconi (Tallmadge/Tallmadge) had a career high 22 points, Diallo Niamke (Sagamore Hills/Nordonia) hit his season high with 13 points and Nathan Bower-Malone (Stow/Stow) added 11 points.

Marietta got 30 points from Kyle Richardson and improved to 10-5 overall and 5-2 in the OAC.

The Raiders came out strong in the first four minutes of the half with an 11-4 run, before Marietta responded with an 11-4 run of its own to tie the game at 15-15.

Mount Union pushed its lead back to seven, 22-15, with 12:40 remaining and again the Pioneers responded this time with a 10-4 run that put them within one point of the Raiders, 26-25.

Marietta tied it at 33 then took its first lead of the game, 36-33, with 3:15 left in the half. Mount Union scored six of the final eight points of the half to lead 39-38 at the half.

Three ties and four lead changes occurred in the first six minutes of the second half, as the Raiders led the Pioneers by three, 57-54.

Marietta then put together a decisive 11-3 run to take a 65-60 lead with 11:30 to play and never trailed again as the Pioneers went on to the 18-point win.

The Raiders next travel to Capital to take on the Crusaders Saturday, January 14 at 2 p.m. in
Columbus, Ohio.