ALLIANCE, Ohio – Mount Union's men's basketball team, ranked No. 14 in the nation, picked up an Ohio Athletic Conference victory over Otterbein 74-59 on Saturday afternoon.
The Purple Raiders (11-2, 5-2 OAC) had four players score in double figures with senior
Braedon Poole (McDonald) leading the way with a 22-point, 11 rebound double-double. Sophomore
Christian Parker (Canton / GlenOak) also had a double-double scoring 15 points and grabbing 10 rebounds. Seniors
Darrell Newsom (Twinsburg) and
Ethan Stanislawski (Massillon / Jackson) rounded out the Raiders double digit scorers, scoring 13 and 12 respectively.
The Cardinals (10-4, 4-3 OAC) were led by Cam Evans who scored a team high 21 points.
Otterbein jumped out to an early 7-1 lead, before the Raiders answered with an 8-0 run of their own to take a 9-7 lead with 15:06 left in the first half. The Raiders and the Cardinals would go back and forth over the next 10 minutes before a Stanislawski three sparked a 12-1 run over the final 4:10 of the first half to give Mount Union a 35-26 lead going into the break.
The Cardinals were able to cut the lead down to four with 16:35 remaining in the game before the Raiders would go on a 15-5 run over the next 5:34 to stretch their lead to 14 with just 10:35 remaining in the game. Otterbein was able to get the lead down to 12 with 3:35 left but that's the closest they would be able to get as back-to-back threes by Newsom capped off a 74-59 win for Mount Union.
The Raiders out rebounded the Cardinals 38-26 and out scored them 42-20 in the paint.
Mount Union is back at home Wednesday, January 19 at 7 p.m. against Muskingum in Alliance.
