TROY, N.Y. – The Union College men's basketball team had one of its roughest shooting nights of the season on Friday evening, falling to first-place Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute by a 61-50 score in a Liberty League matchup at ECAV Arena.
 
Sophomore Mike Concannon led all players with 20 points for Union (5-4, 2-2 Liberty League), followed by classmate Mike Manley with 14 points off the bench. Unfortunately, no other Dutchman had more than one field goal in the losing effort.
 
The Dutchmen struggled to shoot the ball all evening long, connecting on just 15-of-54 shots (27.8 percent) from the field and 6-of-24 from beyond the arc. RPI (9-2, 4-0 Liberty League) finished shooting 40.0 percent (20 of 50) from the field.
 
The game did not start well for the visitors, as Rensselaer jumped out to an early 8-0 lead and the advantage quickly ballooned to 17-2 and then 22-4 with 8:37 left in the opening half. The Dutchmen missed their first six shots and 17 of their first 19 to dig themselves a very deep hole.
 
But Union made a run before halftime, getting within five thanks to a 16-2 run over a span of 3:22. Junior Jackson Mannix started the stretch with a three-pointer, followed by back-to-back threes by Concannon to get the lead within 10. After an RPI bucket, Concannon hit two more baskets and Manley followed with a three to make the score 27-22 with 2:07 to go.
 
The Dutchmen went into halftime down seven at 31-24 despite shooting 31.0 percent and turning the ball over 10 times.
 
Union hung around in the second half, but had trouble stringing together consecutive baskets against a tough Engineer defense. The Dutchmen made one final run with under five minutes left, as sophomore Chris Lovisolo hit a three to compete a brief 8-2 run that got Union within seven at 55-48 with 2:19 to go. But RPI's Mason Memmelaar hit a key layup on the next possession to give the Engineers some more breathing room and Union managed only two free throws the rest of the way.
 
Union will return to action tomorrow at Rochester Institute of Technology beginning at 4 p.m.