Box Score
SCHENECTADY, NY -- With three regular season games left, the Union College men's basketball team is in a remarkable four way tie for first place in the Liberty League. The Dutchmen improved to 7-4 in the league after a 67-57 home victory over Vassar Friday night. Union is 11-10 overall and the Brewers fell to 2-19 overall, 0-10 in the league.
The Dutchmen are tied with Hobart, St. Lawrence and Skidmore atop the league. The tri-captains paced the Union win, as senior guard
Joey Lokitis paced Union with a game high 22 points.
Drew Goldstein had 13 points and the third captain,
Matt Covucci, scored 10. Covucci and
Keven Donohue each had a team best eight rebounds for Union, which forced 23 Brewer turnovers. The Dutchmen shot 36% and had a 36-33 rebounding advantage.
Senior guard Casey Black (Littleton, CO) led Vassar with 20 points while sophomore guard Caleb McGraw (Sitka, AK) scored 17 points. Freshman forward John Donnelly (Williston, VT) just missed out on a double double with a team high nine rebounds to go along with nine points. Vassar shot 33%.
The visitors had a 29-28 lead at halftime, and after trailing by six with eight minutes left in the first half, came back for an eight point lead (29-21) with 2:17 left. But
Rusmir Dzanko made four free throws in the final 47 seconds to pull Union to within one entering the locker room.
The game remained close, including five ties in the first 9:30 of the second half. It was knotted at 48-48 with 7:05 left, but two free throws by Donnelly gave the Brewers a 50-48 lead with 5:31 to play. Union then went on a 9-1 run in the next 3:01 featuring six points from Lokitis. Vassar got as close as within four at 57-53 with 2:23 left, but the Dutchmen then pulled away and made four free throws in the final 48 seconds and led by as many as 12 before a Black bucket with 12 seconds left provided the final.
Union hosts RPI Saturday at 4 p.m. for "NCAA Take a Kid to the Game Day." Union features free admission for all ages for all regular season games. Vassar plays at Skidmore Saturday at 4 p.m.
