NORTH ADAMS, Mass. – Despite a game-high 27 points from senior Brendan Laing, the Union College men's basketball team came up a few shots short in a tough 85-80 (OT) loss to the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts in non-conference action on Monday night at the Amsler Campus Center.
 
Laing had a big game in recording the second double-double of his career, hitting 12-of-20 shots from the field and grabbing 10 rebounds, while sophomore Jackson Mannix also picked up his first career double-double with 19 points and 10 boards. Freshman Mike Concannon flirted with a double-double with 13 points, eight rebounds and five boards, and sophomore Temi George hauled in a game-high 13 caroms as well.
 
The Dutchmen dominated around the basket against the Trailblazers, posting a huge 60-39 edge in rebounding and outscoring MCLA 48-12 in the paint. However, MCLA shot 40.0 percent (12 of 30) from beyond the arc while Union connected on just 5-of-26 attempts (19.2 percent) from long range.
 
Union put together a string of 14 straight points around the halftime break, scoring three points to get within 36-33 at the half before 11 points in a row gave the Dutchmen their biggest lead of the night at 44-36 with 15:02 left that came after a Mannix three. However, the Trailblazers came back soon after with nine straight points to take a 60-53 lead with under eight minutes left.
 
After Laing hit a pair of free throws with 5:54 on the clock, the game remained a one-possession contest for the rest of regulation. MCLA's Antoine Montgomery hit a layup to tie the game at 73 with 30 seconds remaining, giving Union had a pair of chances to win the game; however, a pair of shots did not fall and the game went into overtime.
 
The extra session was not kind to the Dutchmen, as Union hit only one of its eight attempts from the field, but despite that, the visitors remained within one possession for most of the period. Union was still down just two points with 22 seconds left and nearly forced a turnover three times on the subsequent inbounds attempt, but eventually were forced to foul with 13 seconds remaining. A missed free throw gave the visitors one last chance to tie the score in the waning seconds, but a three came up short and the Dutchmen suffered the defeat.
 
Union will take nearly a month off for the holiday break before gearing up for Liberty League play, which begins on Friday, January 4, 2019 against Ithaca College at the Viniar Athletic Center.