WILMINGTON, Ohio – The no. 5 nationally ranked Mount Union men's basketball team defeated Wilmington 84-77 in an Ohio Athletic Conference matchup on Saturday afternoon.

The Purple Raiders (15-0, 6-0 OAC) had five players score in double figures with junior Elijah Farrington (Massillon / Massillon Washington) leading the way with a game-high 19 points. Junior Kevin Hamilton (Akron / St. Vincent St. Mary) added 18 points, sophomore Chance Casenhiser (Uniontown / Lake) scored 17, while seniors Dante Collier (Columbus / Licking Heights) and Kevin Moore (Youngstown / Campbell Memorial) rounded out the Raiders in double digits with 12 and 10 points respectively.

The Quakers (7-7, 3-2 OAC) were led by Elijah Cathey and Matt DeBrosse who both scored a team-high 16 points and Izaiah Cathey and Zach McGuirt who both added 13 points.

Mount Union would jump out to a quick 7-3 lead over the first two and a half minutes of the game. The Raiders would slowly add to their lead over the next eight and a half minutes, stretching it to 23-15 with just over nine minutes remaining in the first half. They would then go on to close the first half on a 20-9 run over the final 6:42 of the half to take a 43-27 lead into the halftime break.

Mount Union would open the second half with a quick 7-3 run to stretch their lead to 20 points with 17:17 left to play in the game. Both teams would go back and forth over the next eight and a half minutes with the lead never growing to more than 24 and Wilmington never getting closer than 16 over this period. Then, the Quakers would answer with an 18-4 run over the next 6:12 of game time to cut the lead down to 75-67 with just over two minutes remaining in the game. Wilmington would cut the lead down to five with just 32 seconds left but that is as close as they would be able to get as the Raiders would go on to win 84-77.

The Raiders return home next as they continue OAC play against Capital on Wednesday, January 14 at 7 p.m. in the McPherson Academic and Athletic Complex in Alliance.