MARIETTA, Ohio – The No. 22 nationally ranked Mount Union men's basketball team lost to Marietta in an Ohio Athletic Conference matchup 87-72 on Wednesday evening.

The Purple Raiders (18-6, 11-6 OAC) had four players score in double figures with senior Christian Parker (Canton / GlenOak) leading the way with a 25-point, 13-rebound double-double. Senior Darrell Newsom (Twinsburg) added in 15 points, with sophomore Corey Hudson (Columbus / Pickerington) scoring 14 and senior Collen Gurley (Akron / Hoban) adding in 10 points to round out the Raiders in double digits.

The Pioneers (15-9, 9-8 OAC) were led by De'Ovion Price who scored a team-high 18 points, with Sahmi Willoughby and Jac Alexander who added in 15 points apiece.

Mount Union would jump out to an early 12-5 lead just three and a half minutes into the game and would maintain that lead over the next three minutes of the game before Marietta would answer with a 13-6 run over 5:03 of game time to cut the lead down to 28-27 with 8:50 left to play in the first half. Both teams would go back and forth over the next several minutes before the Pioneers would go on an 11-2 run over the final 3:44 of the first half to take a 46-40 lead into the halftime break.

The Raiders would slowly chip away at the Pioneer lead over the first five and a half minutes of the second half to cut the lead down to one, before Marietta would go on a 12-3 run over the next 2:36 to push the lead out to 64-54 with 11:26 to play in the game. Mount Union would cut the lead down to six with 6:07 remaining in the game before the Pioneers would go on a 14-3 run to take an 82-65 lead with 2:23 left to play and Marietta would go on to win 87-72.

The Raiders return home for their regular season finale against Otterbein on Saturday, February 17 at 1 p.m. in the McPherson Academic and Athletic Complex.