POUGHKEEPSIE, N.Y. – The Union College men's basketball team came up short in its late-game comeback attempt on Friday night, suffering a 60-55 defeat at the hands of Vassar College on Friday night at the AFC Gymnasium.
 
The loss doesn't hurt Union (12-9, 9-6 Liberty League) much in the conference standings, as the Dutchmen still remain comfortably in fourth place, three games up on Vassar (10-12, 6-9 Liberty League) and two other teams with three games remaining.
 
Sophomore Mike Manley was the top scorer for the Dutchmen, coming off the bench to net 14 points and grab seven rebounds. Classmate Brian Noone added 13 points and a team-best nine caroms, while senior Kevin Jefferson chipped in 12 points as well.
 
Vassar played from in front for the first 10 minutes of the contest before Union used an 11-0 run to grab its first lead of the night on a Jefferson three with 7:28 to go in the half. Junior Temi George hit a layup to finish off another 8-0 stretch that gave the Dutchmen their largest lead of the half (29-23) with 1:20 remaining, before back-to-back Brewer buckets put the score at 29-27 at the break.
 
The teams traded runs to start the second stanza, with Union answering a 9-0 Vassar run with a 12-0 run of its own to open up its largest lead of the game at 44-36 with 8:51 remaining. Jefferson had five points to lead the team offensively, while the defense held Vassar off the scoreboard for more than nine minutes thanks to 0-of-11 shooting.
 
The tables turned after that, however, as the home team used a 16-1 run to surge back into the lead. Union missed all five shots while Vassar connected on 6-of-7 attempts during the run, which put the Brewers up 56-48 with 2:26 left. But Union battled back, with a Noone three-point play capping a 7-0 run and getting within a point at 56-55 with 47 seconds remaining. The Dutchmen had the ball down three in the waning seconds, but a turnover led to a quick transition layup that accounted for the final points of the game.
 
The Dutchmen had a rough shooting night, connecting on just 36.2 percent (21 of 58) of their shots, including a 6-of-25 mark from long range. The Brewers got hot in the second half to finish at 41.1 percent (23 of 56) for the evening.
 
The Dutchmen will finish off their tour of the Hudson Valley tomorrow, when the team heads to Bard for a 4 p.m. tipoff with the Raptors.