MARIETTA, Ohio – The no. 5 nationally ranked Mount Union men's basketball team defeated Marietta 87-72 in Ohio Athletic Conference play on Wednesday evening.

The Purple Raiders (14-0, 5-0 OAC) had four players score in double figures with sophomore Chance Casenhiser (Uniontown / Lake) leading the way with a game-high 27 points. Junior Elijah Farrington (Massillon / Massillon Washington) scored 16 points and grabbed 13 rebounds to record his fifth double-double of the season, while junior Kevin Hamilton (Akron / St. Vincent St. Mary) and senior Caleb Laurich (Akron / Copley) scored 15 and 10 points respectively to round out the Raiders in double digits.

The Pioneers (6-8, 1-4 OAC) were led by Elijah Harden who scored a team-high 21 points, Jaiden Guerra-Howard who added in 15 and Jake Singleton who scored 13 points.

Mount Union would open the game with a 13-4 run over the first 3:37 of action to take the early lead with just over 15 minutes remaining in the first half. The Raiders would slowly add to their lead over the next several minutes as they would push it out to 14 before Marietta would answer with an 11-2 run to cut the lead to 29-24 with just over six minutes to play in the first half. Mount Union would answer with an 8-2 run of their own to push their lead back out to 11 with 3:14 remaining in the half and would maintain that lead over the final three minutes as they would take a 46-33 lead into the halftime break.

After trading baskets over the first six minutes of the second half, Mount Union would go on a 16-5 run over the next 5:14 to take their largest lead of the game at 72-53 with 8:52 remaining in the game. Marietta would answer with a 12-6 run of their own over the next 3:31 of action to cut the lead down to 13 but that is as close as they would be able to get as the Raiders would go on to win 87-72.

The Raiders are on the road again next when they travel to Wilmington for an OAC contest with the Quakers on Saturday, January 10 at 1 p.m.