ALLIANCE -- The Heidelberg University men's basketball climbed out of a 20-point hole in the second half, only to stumble in the final 20 seconds of a 68-65 loss to Mount Union in the semifinals of the Ohio Athletic Conference tournament.  

The loss sends the Student Princes into a crowded group of schools clamoring for a Pool C "at-large" bid into the NCAA Tournament.  

A 14-0 run in the first half put No. 2 seed Mount Union up 24-10 midway through the first period.  While the No. 3 seeded Student Princes struggled to make a shot, the Purple Raiders continued to enjoy success.  A 3-pointer in the waning seconds of the half by Michael Skeriotis put the hosts ahead 39-21 at halftime.  

Though they briefly fell behind by 20 after intermission, the Student Princes showed signs of life early in the second.  Baskets by Seth Hohman, Dylan Woods, and Emmanuel Perdue helped HU cut the deficit to 14 with 16:22 left.  

Out of the first media timeout of the period, Heidelberg went on a 12-0 run over a four-minute span -- with layups from Perdue and Isaiah Young preceding triple hits from Jacob Logsdon and Zane Leitwein.  

Mount's lead hovered around five points for the next five minutes.  Down 52-48 with seven minutes left, Tre Watkins picked the pocket of Ethan Stanislawski and had an easy fast-break layup. On the next possession, Leitwein took the ball from Braedon Poole and drove the other way.  After missing his first attempt, he tied the game with a put-back layup with 6:28 left. 

Christian Parker, who had a game-high 26 points and 13 rebounds, converted a three-point play on the next Mount possession.  Undaunted, Hohman buried a big-time 3-pointer to tie the game.  After Eric Panning stole the ball from Parker, Young found Logsdon for a high-flying layup.  The bucket gave Heidelberg a 57-55 lead.  

With 1:22 to play, Parker put Mount up 65-63 with a layup off a feed from Poole.  At the other end, Heidelberg gathered two offensive rebounds before Watkins was fouled.  The transfer calmly hit both free throws in the one-and-one, tying the game at 65 with 52 seconds left.  

On the ensuing MTU possession, a step-back jumper from Stanislawski circled the rim but fell out. Scrambling for the loose ball, Hohman adroitly threw the ball off Parker's leg and out of bounds.  

After the Student Princes drained 15 seconds off the clock, Darrell Newsom tipped a pass away from Watkins and raced back toward the other end.  He was fouled and hit the first of two free throws.  His second shot came up short, and Young claimed the rebound.  
Quickly ahead and trailing by one, Young gave the ball to Leitwein.  Leitwein's pass to Watkins was deflected into the backcourt where Newsom grabbed it.  He was fouled with a fraction of a second left and made both shots. 

After a timeout, Heidelberg was unable to launch a desperation heave before the buzzer sounded.  

Perdue had a team-high 12 points and was one of four in double figures for HU.  Young and Watkins both had 11 while Hohman added 10.  Hohman added seven boards and Young had six assists.  

Heidelberg shot 47.2% in the second half after only mustering 26.5% in the first.  

Mount Union will travel to Marietta on Saturday for the OAC Tournament Championship.  

The NCAA Tournament features 64 teams, with 44 bids going to automatic qualifiers.  Heidelberg will hope to be one of the 20 teams to receive an at-large bid.  The brackets will be announced on Monday, Feb. 28, at 12:30 p.m. on NCAA.com.