ALLIANCE, OH – The Wilmington College men's basketball team connected on a season-high 11 three-pointers en route to clinching the third seed for the upcoming Ohio Athletic Conference tournament by virtue of the 69-68 victory Saturday over Mount Union.

"We did a good job of making the extra passes against the zone," said head coach K.C. Hunt. "When we make the extra pass, we make more shots."

Wilmington (13-12 overall, 10-8 OAC) hosts the quarterfinals 8 p.m. Tuesday. The Fightin' Quakers play the winner of Monday's opening round game between Ohio Northern and Heidelberg.

Junior Malcolm Heard II (Wilmington, OH/Wilmington) joined Wilmington's 1,000-point club with a dunk of the game's first possession. However, that was the lone bright spot for Quakers in the first half as Mount Union built and maintained a double-digit lead for most of the opening 20 minutes.

"It was a combination of things in the first half," said Hunt. "Mount Union shot the heck out of the basketball and did a good job of putting us on our heels. We dug deep as a team (in the second half) to find that energy and effort needed to pull out the victory."

The Purple Raiders lead grew to 15 in the second half before the Fightin' Quakers caught fire. Wilmington made five three-pointers during a 20-2 run that gave WC its first lead since the game-opening dunk by Heard. Mount Union stemmed the tide with a three-point play, but WC answered with a free throw by Jordan Berlin (Wilmington, OH/Wilmington) gave the Green & White a lead they wouldn't relinquish.

Each time the Purple Raiders got the lead to within one, Wilmington answered with a three-pointer. The first by junior Klarke Ransome (Richwood, OH/North Union) with 6:51 remaining and the second by senior Brandon Candella (West Chester, OH/Lakota West) with 4:42 left.

Ransome scored with 2:06 to give Wilmington a four-point lead with 2:06, but it was the last time the Fightin' Quakers would score. The Purple Raiders had two chances, one with 18 seconds remaining and another as time expired, to steal the victory.

Heard finished the game with 17 points on 5-of-7 shooting and four rebounds. Candella chipped in with 14 points and three rebounds, while freshman Tre Stennett (Mount Vernon, OH/Westerville Central) added a career-high nine points. Junior Taylor Wellman (Norwood, OH/Norwood) dished out a team-high five assists.