UNIVERSITY HEIGHTS, Ohio – The No. 3 nationally ranked Mount Union men's basketball team lost to No. 8 John Carroll 74-72 in an Ohio Athletic Conference matchup between top ten teams on Wednesday night.

The Purple Raiders (16-2, 9-2 OAC) had two players score in double figures, with senior Collen Gurley (Akron / Hoban) leading the way with a game-high 24 points. Junior Christian Parker (Canton / GlenOak) added 16 points to round out the Raiders in double figures.

The Blue Streaks (16-2, 10-1 OAC) were led by Luke Frazier who scored a team-high 22 points and Henry Raynor who scored 14 points.

Gurley got the Raiders started offensively scoring the first five points and sparking a 13-6 run over the first 3:45 of the game. Mount Union would take their biggest lead of the half with 13:17 remaining in the half, leading 22-11 after back-to-back threes by Gurley and senior Darrell Newsom (Twinsburg). John Carroll would come storming back, going on a 17-5 run over the next 7:32 of game time to take their first lead of the night at 27-26 with 5:45 left in the half. The Raiders and Blue Streaks would go on to trade baskets over the final five minutes of the half giving John Carroll a 37-36 lead heading into the halftime break.

The Blue Streaks opened the second half with a quick 5-0 run to take their largest lead of the night, leading 42-36. A Parker layup with 14:10 remaining in the game gave the Raiders a 47-46 lead. Mount Union and John Carroll would trade baskets over the next 3:39 of game time before both teams would go scoreless over the next three minutes before a layup by senior Braedon Poole (McDonald) extended the Raider lead to three with 6:58 left to play. With 5:09 remaining in the game the Blue Streaks would go on a 9-2 run over the next 1:44 to take a 67-62 lead with just over three minutes remaining in the game. The Raiders would respond with a 7-1 run of their own to take a 71-70 lead with just eight seconds remaining. A pair of free throws by Frazier and Luke Chicone gave John Carroll a 74-71 lead with just over two seconds remaining in the game. Gurley would head to the line with 1.4 seconds remaining in the game and make his first free throw to cut the lead to 74-72, but Mount Union would get called for a lane violation on the intentional miss on the second free throw giving the Blue Streaks a 74-72 victory.

The Raiders hit the road again next when they travel to Ada for an OAC matchup with Ohio Northern on Saturday, January 28 at 2 p.m.