CINCINNATI, Ohio – Mount Union's men's basketball team defeated Mount St. Joseph 81-57 at the Lauren Hill Tip-Off Classic on Sunday afternoon.
The Purple Raiders (6-0) had four players score in double figures with sophomore
Chance Casenhiser (Uniontown / Lake) and senior
Dante Collier (Columbus / Licking Heights) both scored a game-high 14 points. Junior
Elijah Farrington (Massillon / Massillon Washington) scored 12 points and had 10 rebounds to record his fourth double-double of the season with junior
Shaun Vaden (Cleveland / Cornerstone Christian) scoring a career-high 12 points to round out the Raiders in double digits.
The Lions (1-4) were led by Michael Loftis who scored a team-high 11 points and Mathew Menninger who added in 10.
Mount Union would open the game with a 9-0 run to jump out to the early lead just two and a half minutes into the game. The Raiders would continue to expand their lead over the next seven and a half minutes by outscoring the Lions 15-8 over that span to take a 24-8 lead with 9:08 remaining in the first half. Mount St. Joseph would answer with a 9-2 run over the next 4:17 of game time to cut the lead down to nine with just under five minutes to play in the half. However, Mount Union would go on to outscore them 8-2 over the remainder of the half to take a 34-19 lead into the halftime break.
The Lions would cut the lead to 11 over the first three minutes of the second half before the Raiders would go on a 10-4 run to push the lead back to 48-31 with 13:43 left to play in the game. Mount St. Joseph would answer with an 11-2 run over the next 3:21 of game time to cut the lead to just eight with 10:22 remaining in the game. Mount Union would answer with a massive 25-7 run over the next eight minutes to take their largest lead of the game at 75-49 with just over two minutes left to play. The Lions wouldn't be able to get closer than 23 over remainder of the game as the Raiders would go on to win 81-57.
The Raiders host Wooster next in their home opener on Wednesday, November 26 at 6 p.m. in the McPherson Academic and Athletic Complex in Alliance.
