ALLIANCE, Ohio — It was raining three's as the University of Mount Union knocked off No. 3 ranked Marietta College by the score of 102-92 Wednesday (Feb. 11) evening. The Purple Raiders are now just one game behind the Pioneers in the Ohio Athletic Conference standings. Mount Union is 17-5 overall and 13-2 in the OAC. Marietta drops to 21-1 on the season and 14-1 in league play.
The two teams combined for 40 three-pointers as Mount Union drained 21 and the Pioneers sank 19 treys equaling the Marietta school record. RaNeal Ewing tallied seven three-pointers and led all scorers with 23 points. Garrett Stephenson scored 21 points, while Andy Dollman added 10 points. Eddy Grenert grabbed a team-high nine rebounds.
Kyle Scelza led Mount Union with 20 points hitting 6-of-9 behind the arc. Jarrett Ruffin notched a double-double with 16 points and 11 rebounds. Nate Jacubec and Cody Dillon tallied 19 and 18 points, respectively. JJ Kukura chipped in with 10 points off the bench.
Marietta jumped out to the early lead and a three-pointer from Dillon Young at the 10:6 mark gave the Pioneers an eight point lead, 30-22, its biggest of the game. Mount Union responded with a 12-2 run to take the lead, 34-32, at the 7:34 mark.
The Purple Raiders continued their torrid shooting and built a nine point lead, 48-39, on a Cody Dillon trey. Ewing helped trim the Purple Raider lead with a pair of three's including one at the buzzer. Mount led 51-47 at the break.
The Pioneers hit the first bucket of the second half cutting the deficit to two. Mount responded with four straight three-pointers to push the lead back to nine, 62-53. Marietta battled back to tie the game, 82-82, on another Ewing trey with 8:43 remaining.
Following another tie at 85, Mount scored seven straight points and never trailed again. The Pioneers got within three, 93-90, and then forced a turnover. But, Marietta couldn't get the equalizer and was forced to foul down the stretch. Mount converted 4-of-6 free throws to secure the upset.
For the game, Marietta shot 50.7% (35-of-69) from the floor, 50.0% (19-of-38) behind the arc and 75.0% (3-of-4) at the line. Mount Union was 36-of-61 (59.0%) from the floor, 21-of-37 (56.8%) from three-point range and 9-of-18 (50.0%) at the line.
Mount Union edged the Pioneers on the glass 33-32. Marietta committed 10 turnovers, while the Purple Raiders turned the ball over eight times.
Marietta travels to John Carroll University for a 2:00 p.m. game on Saturday (Feb. 14).