Late run lifts Mount Union past
Men’s Hoops 69-66

Jan. 19, 2008

By Gary Petit

ALLIANCE — Mount Union used an 18-6 run over the final five minutes to pull out a 69-66 comeback victory over Ohio Northern Saturday afternoon in the Timken Gymnasium.

The win was the third straight for the Purple Raiders and they are now 6-10 overall and 3-6 in the Ohio Athletic Conference.

The Polar Bears dropped their third straight game by 3 or less points and are now 9-7 on the year, 5-4 in the conference.

Senior Kyle Gehle led ONU with 19 points while junior Jake Cannan recorded his second straight double-double with 17 points and 10 boards. Sophomore Kyle Meyer chipped in with 13 points.

MUC jumped out to an early 13-6 lead before Cannan hit a couple of free throws to spark a 7-0 Polar Bears to even the game at 13-13 with 8:40 to play in the first half.

The teams traded the lead four more times the rest of the half and the Polar Bears took a 30-28 lead into the break.

In the second half, Northern built an eight point lead on two different occasions, the last of which came on a Sam Bastian 3-pointer to put the Bears in front 48-40 with 12 minutes to play.

The Polar Bear lead would swell to as big as nine at 60-51 with 5:48 to go when Gehle connected on a three-ball followed by a Cannan jumper, but that is when Mount started its run.

Back-to-back 3-pointers by Dave Pellerite and Sam King, followed but a dunk by Chris Crawford and another three by Chris Switzer put the Purple Raiders ahead 62-60 with 2:46 to play.

Two free throws by ONU’s Kurtis Brown tied the game at 62-62 but Pellerite knocked down his third three of the game to put Mount ahead for good.

Following two Purple Raider free throws to make the score 69-66 with 3 seconds to play, Brown’s three-quarter court game-tying attempt, rimmed out.

Sam King led all scorers with 22 points as Switzer and Pellerite added 14 and 13 points, respectively.

Ohio Northern was 22-of-53 (41.5 percent) from the floor and 7-of-15 (46.7 percent) from beyond the arc.

Mount Union made 26-of-62 (41.9 percent) from the field and just 7-of-20 (35 percent) from long range.

ONU held a 36-29 advantage on the boards but Mount Union forced 14 Polar Bear turnovers to just eight for the Purple Raiders.

Northern will return to action next Saturday when it will travel to Marietta for a 3 pm tip-off.