WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. – The Union College men's basketball team held a second-half lead against the #2 team in Division III, but Williams College managed to pull away in the late stages of the second half to defeat the Dutchmen by an 87-70 score on Thursday night at the Chandler Athletic Center.
 
Sophomore Jackson Mannix led Union (4-2) with 20 points and eight rebounds, while senior Brendan Laing hit 8-of-9 shots from the floor on the way to a 16-point effort. Freshman Mike Concannon also reached double figures for the team-leading fifth time in six games with 13 points.
 
A big first-half run by Williams put Union behind early in the contest, as the Ephs scored 15 straight points in the span of four minutes to grab a 20-5 lead with 12:54 remaining.
 
The home team led by as many as 18 points with 9:49 left, but the Dutchmen responded with a run of their own. Down 37-20 with 7:57 remaining, Union outscored Williams 19-4 over the next 6:37 to get right back into the game at halftime. Concannon started the run with a three and seven points from Mannix helped sustain it, while five straight points from sophomore Nate Freeman got Union within three at 39-36 with 2:04 on the clock.
 
The visitors got back into the game with some solid shooting, hitting 14-of-28 shots from the field and 8-of-17 from long range to go into halftime down just five at 44-39.
 
The Dutchmen fought all the way back to take the lead with 15:22 to go in the second half, with sophomore Temi George sinking a layup to put Union up 52-51. The visitors remained within close range for the next five minutes, with a Laing layup trimming the deficit to four points (60-56) with 10:32 left. However, the Ephs scored 10 straight points to build up a big lead that could not be overcome.
 
Union's shooting cooled off somewhat in the second half, but still finished the game hitting at 46.4 percent (26 of 56) from the field and 42.9 percent (12 of 28) from three-point range. The Dutchmen fell victim to foul trouble on the night, as a 24-11 disparity in fouls resulted in a 29-10 edge in free-throw attempts for the home team.
 
Union will close out 2018 on Monday with a non-conference contest at Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts tipping off at 7 p.m.