TIFFIN, Ohio -- Dave Pellerite (Olmsted Falls/Olmsted Falls), Ben Hodkinson (Tippecanoe/Harrison Central) and Matt Wier (New Castle, Pa./Mohawk) each scored a team-high 15 points to put Mount Union in a third place tie in the Ohio Athletic Conference after a 79-73 win at Heidelberg Saturday in Tiffin.

Mount Union also got 13 from Jimmy Wood (Wintersville/Indian Creek) and 11 from T.J. Gillespie (Toledo/Toledo St. John's) to improve to 7-8 overall and at 5-3 in the OAC are tied with Heidelberg (7-8, 5-3) and John Carroll (10-5, 5-3) all just 1.5 games behind leaders Marietta (14-2, 7-2) and Capital (11-4, 7-2).

Heidelberg got a game-high 18 from Dane Givner and 16 out of Darion Capers in the loss.

The Student Prince held a 4-2 lead minutes into the contest but the Purple Raiders went on a 15-3 run to take a 10-point lead and never looked back.

Mount Union maintained a 10-point lead at the half and held back Heidelberg that closed the gap to two points on three different occasions in the second half.

The last of those runs came with 1:44 left when Givner blocked a shot and ran down to convert a layup to make it 71-69.

Both teams traded buckets to keep the lead at two and Mount Union hit six free throws in the final minute to put the game away.

Mount Union closes out the first half of conference play Monday at 7:30 pm against Baldwin-Wallace at The MAAC in Alliance.