Mount Union College's men's basketball team (5-16, 4-10 OAC) came up short, 76-72, against Ohio Northern (16-4, 11-3 OAC) in a conference battle on Saturday, February 4 at the Timken Gymnasium in Alliance, Ohio.
Both sides came out in the second half playing well as neither team could pull away. The Polar Bears would take the largest lead of the game, at 52-44, with 10:21 remaining when Kyle Gehle sank a pair of free throws. Ohio Northern would stretch their lead to 10, but Mount Union would answer.The Raiders would go on an 11-0 run to regain the lead at 57-56 when Helton nailed two free throws at the 5:38 mark. However, the Polar Bears would regain control and outscore the Raiders 20-15 the rest of the way to earn a narrow 76-72 conference victory.
Individually, Mount Union was led by center Kyle Karpinski's game-high 17 points. Karpinski (1,270 points) also moved into 6th on the Raiders all-time scoring list, passing Rob Bishop (1983-87), who totaled 1,268 during his career. Helton chipped in 14, while forward Mike Fatigante also threw in a career-high seven points. The Polar Bears had four players reach double figures, as forward Bart Hostetler led the way with 16.
Mount shot .583 compared to Ohio Northern's .542. The Polar Bears held a 26-21 rebounding advantage, while also using bench points in their favor, outscoring the Raiders 47-16.
Mount Union next travels to Baldwin Wallace on Wednesday, February 8. Tip-off from Berea, Ohio is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.