ROCHESTER, N.Y. – The Union College men's basketball team jumped out to an early lead and never looked back as the Dutchmen picked up their first Liberty League win of the year with a 74-68 win over Rochester Institute of Technology on Saturday afternoon at Clark Gymnasium.
 
Union (4-1, 1-1 Liberty League) featured a well-balanced attack on the day, with nine players recording at least one bucket and seven players scoring at least seven points. Sophomore Nate Freeman led the team with 13 points on 5-of-5 shooting, followed by freshman Mike Concannon with 12 points and junior Kevin Jefferson with 11.
 
The two teams traded three-pointers to open the scoring before Union took control early, using a 17-4 run over the span of 4:12 to take a 20-7 lead with 13:58 left in the first half. The visitors went 6-for-6 from the field and hit all three long-range attempts during the run, led by five points each from Concannon and Jefferson.
 
RIT (2-4, 0-2 Liberty League) got back within seven at the midway point of the half, but the Dutchmen doubled up RIT 20-10 the rest of the way, with Jefferson adding a team-leading six points. A pair of free throws from freshman Mike Manley built up the lead to as many as 20 points in the final minute before a late three made the score 44-27 at the break.
 
Union shot a sizzling 55.6 percent (15 of 27) from the field in the first half, including 7-of-15 from beyond the arc, while RIT hit on just 11-of-37 shots (29.7 percent).
 
The Dutchmen built their lead up to as many as 22 points on a pair of occasions in the second half before RIT made one last run, hitting 8-of-9 shots as part of a 15-3 run that closed the gap to eight at 67-59 with 3:47 on the clock. But Freeman hit a layup to end the run and then added two free throws that settled down the game and put Union back up 71-61 with under 2:30 to go.
 
Union cooled down a little in the second half, but still finished the game shooting 50.0 percent (26 for 52) from the field. RIT took 18 more shots than Union, but ended the game at 38.0 percent (27 for 71) from the floor.
 
Union will close out 2018 with a pair of non-conference games on the road, beginning with a Thursday night matchup at Williams College starting at 7 p.m.