WESTERVILLE, Ohio – Mount Union's men's basketball team, ranked No. 10 in the nation defeated Otterbein 63-61 in an Ohio Athletic Conference matchup on Saturday afternoon.

The Purple Raiders (21-3, 14-3 OAC) had three players score in double figures with sophomore Christian Parker leading the way with 23 points. Seniors Darrell Newsom (Twinsburg) and Braedon Poole (McDonald) would add 12 and 11 respectively.

The Cardinals (17-7, 11-6 OAC) were led by Cam Evans who scored a team high 15 points.

Mount Union jumped out to an early 12-3 lead over Otterbein just over four minutes into the game. The Cardinals would answer with a 12-4 run of their own over the next 4:05 to cut the Raider lead down to one with 11:51 remaining in the first half. Just under two minutes later Otterbein would go on an 11-3 run over the next 5:05 to take a 26-23 with 4:55 left in the first half. The Raiders would respond with an 11-5 run over the final 4:08 of the first half to take a 34-31 lead going into the half.

Mount Union and Otterbein traded baskets over the first eight minutes of the second half before a pair of Parker free throws sparked a 12-5 run over the next 4:11 to give the Raiders a 56-45 lead with 7:41 left to play. The Cardinals would answer with a 9-0 run of their own to cut the lead down to two with 5:20 remaining in the game. Mount Union would go on to score the next five points to stretch their lead to seven with just over two minutes to play. Otterbein would go on to score the next seven points to tie the game at 61 with 10.9 seconds remaining. With 1.3 seconds remaining Parker hit the game winning shot coming off an assist from senior Ethan Stanislawski (Massillon / Jackson), to give the Raiders a 63-61 victory.

The Raiders will host one of the quarterfinal games of the OAC Tournament on Tuesday, February 22 at 7 p.m. at the McPherson Academic and Athletic Complex in Alliance. Ticket information will be available at a later date.