MARIETTA, Ohio — In a battle befitting the top two teams in the Ohio Athletic Conference, No. 5 ranked Marietta College rallied to beat the University of Mount Union by the score of 86-82 Wednesday (Jan. 21) evening in front of a capacity crowd in Ban Johnson Arena. Marietta stays perfect on the season with a 16-0 mark, 9-0 in the OAC.

Mount Union (11-5 overall, 7-2 OAC) nearly pulled off the upset as the Purple Raiders led the game for nearly 30 minutes. Marietta scored the first three points of the game, but after that it was pretty much all Mount Union in the first half.

The Purple Raiders were on fire in the opening period shooting over 60% from the floor until the final few minutes. Nate Jacubec was 5-for-5 with a pair of threes for 12 points and Taylor Moore poured in 11 in the first half as Mount led by as many as nine points.

Senior Garrett Stephenson kept the Pioneers in the game with 15 first half points. The Pioneers trailed by one, 42-41, at the break.

After leading for the last 15 minutes of the first half, Mount didn't trail through the first 15 minutes of the second half. Marietta managed to tie the game four times in the second period, but couldn't get the go-ahead bucket until Stephenson crashed the offensive boards and got a tip-in with 5:18 left to give the Pioneers a 75-73 lead.

Marietta never trailed again.

After tying the game at 73-73 on an old-fashioned three-point play, the Pioneers went on an 11-4 run for their biggest lead of the game, 84-77, with 29 seconds left on the clock.

Mount's leading scorer, DeAllen Jackson drained a three-pointer and then scored on a layup after Marietta missed two free throws to get within two, 84-82, with 10 seconds left. The Purple Raiders were forced to foul and senior Andy Dollman stepped to the line and swished both free throws to ice the game.

Stephenson and Keith Richardson each scored 17 points to lead the Pioneers. RaNeal Ewing scored 13 second half points and finished with 15 for the game. Eddy Grenert added 12 points and eight rebounds, while Dollman finished with 11 points.

Marietta dominated the boards outrebounding the Raiders 44-34. In addition to Grenert, A.J. Edwards and Andy Stegman also pulled down eight rebounds.

Jackson and Jacubec led the Purple Raiders with 19 and 18 points, respectively. Jacubec also grabbed a team-best six rebounds. Moore finished with 16 points and four rebounds and Cody Dillon had 12 points.

For the game, Marietta shot 44.3% (31-of-70) from the floor, 26.1% (6-of-23) from three-point range and 66.7% (18-of-27) at the free throw line. Mount Union was 30-of-63 (47.6%) from the floor, 8-of-25 (32.0%) behind the arc and 14-of-18 (77.8%) at the line.

Marietta hosts Heidelberg University on Saturday (Jan. 24) at 3:00 p.m.