ALLIANCE, Ohio (WKBN) – No. 9 ranked Mount Union defeated Baldwin Wallace 83-73 to clinch the Ohio Athletic Conference men’s basketball regular season title outright Wednesday night at the MAAC.
Watch the video above for highlights and reaction from the game.
The Purple Raiders got five points from Nathan Bower-Malone (Stow) in a 10-0 run with 2:53 left to pull away from Baldwin Wallace leading 77-67 with 53 seconds remaining.
Mount Union has now won 13 games in a row and stand at 21-3 overall and 16-1 in the OAC while the loss drops Baldwin Wallace to 13-11 overall and 9-8 in the OAC.
Bower-Malone had a game-high 22 points and seven assists and D’Vontay Friga (Cuyahoga Falls) finished with 16 points to lead Mount Union.
The Raiders also got 15 points from Collen Gurley (Akron / Hoban) and 14 from junior Logan Hill (Massillon / Jackson) along with seven rebounds.
Luke Schaefer had 18 to lead three in double digits for Heidelberg.
Mount Union led 10-9 early on when Bower-Malone hit a jumper five minutes into the game. Michael Quiring gave Baldwin Wallace the lead 12-10 on a three ball with 14:15 left in the half. Mount Union tied the game at 26 when freshman Chris Painter Jr. (Akron / St. Vincent St. Mary’s) hit a shot beyond the arc. Baldwin Wallace led at the half 36-32.
A 6-0 run to start the second half thanks to a three from senior Tanner Slack (New Concord / John Glenn) and sophomore Braedon Poole (McDonald) gave the Raiders a 38-36 lead. Mount Union got another run this time 11-4 with four different Raiders scoring in the run to lead 58-52. Baldwin Wallace tied the game at 67 with an Anthony Mazzeo three.
Mount Union travels to Capital in the regular season finale, Saturday, Feb. 22 at 2 p.m. in Bexley, Ohio.
COURTESY: MOUNT UNION ATHLETICS
