No. 3 seed Mount Union hosts No. 6 seed Muskingum in the quarterfinals of the Ohio Athletic Conference Men's Basketball Tournament Tuesday at 8 p.m. in Timken Gymnasium in Alliance.
Fans can follow the game with the radio broadcast on WRMU 91.1 FM and online with Live Audio | Live Video | Live Stats
The game marks the third matchup between the teams over the last five days as Mount Union swept a pair of games this past weekend -- 91-74 Friday, Feb. 26 in New Concord and 99-67 Saturday, Feb. 27 in Alliance.
The Purple Raiders (8-3) are second in the conference in scoring offense at 89.6 points per game and fifth in scoring defense allowing 77.1 points per game.
Juniors Collen Gurley (Akron / Hoban) and Breaden Poole (McDonald) are among the confeence leaders averaging 17.3 and 16.1 points per game. Poole averages a double-double as he leads the OAC in rebounding at 10.2 per game. Junior guard Ethan Stanislawski (Massillon / Jackson) is third in the conference with a team-best 4.2 assists per game.
Muskingum (4-8) finished the season on a three-game skid and the Muskies are fifth in the OAC in scoring at 78.3 points per game and ninth in scoring defense allowing 85.0 points per game.
Trey Singleton is 10th in the conference in scoring as the junior guard leads Muskingum at 15.3 points per game. Alex Masinelli leads the team in rebounding at 5.9 per game and assists at 3.3 per game.
OAC Tournament History
It is the 61st OAC Tournament appearance for Mount Union as the Raiders have a 35-57 record and won titles in 1997, 2015 and 2020.
Muskingum is making its 51st OAC Tournament appearance with a 41-48 record and won titles in 1977, 1988 and 1990.
Mount Union and Muskingum have met three previous times in the OAC Tournament with the Muskies holding a 2-1 lead in tournament games.
2001 - #7 Muskingum 79, #2 Mount Union 70 (Quarterfinals)
1994 - #8 Mount Union 86, #9 Muskingum 72 (First Round)
1988 - #3 Muskingum 76, #6 Mount Union 67 (Quarterfinals)
Up Next ...
The winner advances to Thursday's semifinals and the OAC will make the matchups based on seeds of the remaining teams. The highest remaining seed will host the lowest remaining seed while the the other two teams left will matchup with the highest seed team hosting that matchup.
Coaches
Mike Fuline (Kent State '98) is 171-89 (.647) in his 10th season at Mount Union. Fuline has led Mount Union to four 20-win seasons, OAC regular season titles in 2013-14, 2018-19 and 2019-20, OAC Tournament titles and NCAA Sweet 16 appearances in 2015 and 2020. Before coming to Mount Union, Fuline spent eight years as a high school head coach at Rootstown and Massillon Jackson. His 2010 Jackson team won the OHSAA Division I State Championship.
Travis Schwab (Ohio Wesleyan '04) is 49-91 (.350) in his sixth season at Muskingum. Schwab has coached a pair of OAC Freshman of the Year winners with the Muskies. He spent eight years as an assistant coach at Wittenberg before coming to New Concord and also had assistant coaching stints at Kenyon and Heidelberg. He was an All-American player at Ohio Wesleyan.
