ALLIANCE, Ohio – Hot Shooting from outside the three point line proved cruical in Mount Union men's basketball win over Heidelberg in a 94-71 win Saturday afternoon in the Timken Gymnasium.

The Purple Raiders (16-1, 9-1 OAC) were led by senior Collen Gurley (Akron/Hoban) and junior Christian Parker (Canton/GlenOak) dropping game-high 22 points each.

Other contributions to the victory came from seniors Darrell Newsom (Twinsburg), Jeffery Mansfield (Wilmington) and Chris Painter Jr. (Akron/St. Vincent-St. Mary) scoring 12, 11 and 10 points.

Heidelberg (12-5, 7-3 OAC) was led by Emmanuel Perdue with 15 points.

Gurley opened the game up connecting on two three's while Newsom added another to take an early 9-4 lead. A layup and then dunk from Parker put the Raiders up 13-4 with just five minutes of play so far. Mount Union got its largest lead of the first half on a three from freshman Dante Collier (Columbus / Licking Heights) to go up 20-8 with 12:20 to play in the half. 

Heidelberg got a lead with 4:35 and 3:40 left in the first half but Mount Union finished the half on an 11-0 run to take a 45-35 lead into the halftime break.

After a quick bucket for Heidelberg, Mount Union scored the next eight points to lead 53-37. Heidelberg got within five with 15 minutes to play on a three ball from Seth Hohman but a layup from Parker and a three from Newsom pushed the lead out to 10 within the next minute. 

Heidelberg could not get within 14 points the rest of the way as Mount Union got its largest lead of 27 points with 2:21 left in the game. 

The Raiders connected on 13 of 21 from the three point line while Heidelberg hti just six threes. Mount Union forced 17 steals in the game while out rebounding Heidelberg 33-30.

Mount Union's next game is in University Heights as they take on No. 9-nationally ranked John Carroll on Wednesday, January 21 at 7 p.m. in a crucial OAC matchup as both teams sit in first place in the conference.