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Jacubec, Mount Union get another shot at Marietta
By Steve Wilaj
ALLIANCE
The loss still lingers in the mind of Mount Union senior guard Nate Jacubec.
It happened two years ago — an 80-76 overtime loss at Marietta in the 2012-13 Ohio Athletic Conference tournament championship game. To make matters worse, the Purple Raiders led by 20 points with 11:53 remaining.
Now, with Mount Union entering the exact same situation tonight — a 7:30 p.m. matchup with top-seeded Marietta (25-2) at Ban Johnson Arena with the OAC title at stake — the Struthers graduate wants the Purple Raiders to use that bad memory to their advantage.
“It gives us something to look back on knowing we were up 20 at one point, at their place to win a title and blew it as younger guys,” Jacubec said. “Now we’re a veteran squad and I think it’s our time to take that reign.”
To get its revenge, third-seeded Mount Union (21-6) will have to defeat a Pioneers teamthat hasn’t lost at home all season. Then again, it’s a task the Purple Raiders accomplished Thursday night with a 89-88 overtime road win against second-seeded John Carroll.
Handing the Blue Streaks (20-6) their first home-loss of the season, Jacubec split a pair of free throws with two seconds left to break a tie score. The game-winning foul shot came after Jacubec drove the lane off a ball screen and was fouled.
“We got the mismatch we wanted and I just took it to the hoop,” said Jacubec, who finished with 16 points, as did freshman teammate and Alliance grad J.J. Kukura. “Then [the free throws] were nerve-wracking. But I looked over at my teammates on the bench and my teammates on the court and just stepped up and knocked one down.”
Purple Raiders coach Mike Fuline said that camaraderie helped propel Mount Union, which trailed by seven points at halftime and was forced into overtime by a 25-foot buzzer-beating heave from John Carroll’s Will Starks.
“At this time of the year, the closer teams that are more like a family are the ones that tend to win,” Fuline said. “That was the case last night. Everybody had a role in winning that game.”
As for winning at Marietta tonight, Fuline admitted that “it’s going to be extremely difficult.”
But the Purple Raiders — which have won 10 of their last 11 games — defeated the Pioneers, 102-92, at Mount Union on Feb. 11. They lost at Marietta, 86-82, on Jan. 21.
“We have a team that really embraces going on the road and playing against great crowds,” Fuline said. “So they’re looking forward to it.”
More specifically, Jacubec and the rest of the upperclassmen are looking forward to putting the 2013 OAC championship loss entirely to rest.
“Going down there knowing that their crowd is going to be in it adds more fuel to the fire,” Jacubec said. “We’re gonna battle both ways and hopefully we come out on top.”