WESTERVILLE, Ohio – The No. 14 nationally ranked Mount Union men's basketball team defeated Otterbein in an Ohio Athletic Conference matchup 79-69 on Saturday afternoon.

The Purple Raiders (12-1, 5-1 OAC) had three players score in double figures with senior Christian Parker (Canton / GlenOak) leading the way with a career-high 34 points. Senior Darrell Newsom (Twinsburg) added in 13 points and freshman Jahlil Graham (Canton / Canton McKinley) scored 11 to round out the Raiders in double digits.

The Cardinals (8-5, 2-4 OAC) were led by Julian Heckman who scored a team-high 17 points, Troy Scowden who scored 13 points and Jack Clement who added in 12 points.

Otterbein jumped out to an early five-point 13-8 lead just over four minutes into the game, before Mount Union would answer with a quick 7-2 run over the next 1:36 to tie the game at 15 apiece with 14:03 left to play in the first half. The Raiders and the Cardinals would go back and forth over the final 14 minutes of the first half, with neither team being able to gain an advantage. The final 14 minutes of the half would see 11 lead changes and four ties, with the largest lead being four and ended with Mount Union taking a 45-42 lead into the halftime break.

The Raiders would open the second half with a quick 6-0 run to stretch their lead to nine points. However, the Cardinals would answer with a 6-0 run of their own to cut the lead back down to three with just over fifteen and a half minutes to play. Back-to-back baskets by Parker would then spark a 17-4 run over the next 5:13 that would see Mount Union take their biggest lead of the game at 68-52 with 10:22 remaining in the game. The Cardinals would answer again though, going on a 10-2 run of their own over the next 4:13 of game time to cut the lead down to eight with four and a half minutes left to play. However, that is as close as they would get as Mount Union would be able to hold onto their lead over the final four minutes of game and would go on to win 79-69.

The Raiders are on the road again next when they head to University Heights for a top 25 showdown with No. 7 John Carroll on Wednesday, January 10 at 7 pm.