CANTON, N.Y. – Sophomore Chris Lovisolo led a first-half barrage from beyond the arc as the Union College men's basketball team used a red-hot first half to defeat St. Lawrence University by a 79-64 score in Liberty League action on Friday night at Ronald T. Berkman Gymnasium.
 
Union (14-9, 11-6 Liberty League) remains locked into the fourth spot in the conference standings, while the loss drops St. Lawrence (8-15, 6-11 Liberty League) into a five-way tie for fifth place in the conference standings with one game left.
 
Lovisolo did all of his damage in the first half for Union, scoring 15 points on 4-of-7 shooting to help the visitors to an early advantage. Classmate Mike Concannon led five Dutchmen in double figures with 18 points, thanks to a 5-of-9 effort from long range. Fellow sophomores Mike Manley and Brian Noone both added 11 points apiece and junior Rhona Eseyade chipped in 10 points as well.
 
Both teams shot the ball well in the first half, as Union finished at 46.9 percent (15 of 32) and St. Lawrence shot even better at 48.1 percent (13 of 27). The difference was long-range shooting, as the Dutchmen connected on 11-of-19 attempts (57.9 percent) from beyond the arc to take control of the game.
 
The Saints held the lead for much of the first five minutes, as Union missed four of its first five shots from downtown. But the Dutchmen heated up after that, hitting three straight threes to grab a 17-14 lead on a trifecta by freshman Justin Regis with 13:18 left. At one point in the half, Union scored 27-of-29 points via the three, as the visitors hit 9-of-12 attempts during a 29-11 run that helped the visitors to a 48-30 halftime advantage.
 
The three-point barrage did not continue for Union in the second half, but the visitors still managed to hit enough shots to pull out the victory. Union scored seven of the period's first nine points to take its largest lead of the night (55-32) on a Noone layup, which helped to bolster an offense that did not score back-to-back buckets the rest of the way.
 
St. Lawrence whittled the lead down to just nine (73-64) with under four minutes remaining, but the Union defense held the Saints off the board over the final 3:53 and the Dutchmen hit 6-of-9 free throws to secure the victory.
 
Union finished the night shooting better from beyond the arc (14 of 34) than inside it (12 of 32), but perhaps more importantly hit 13-of-16 free throw attempts as well. Thanks in large part to Lovisolo, Union boasted a 31-2 edge in bench points on the evening.
 
Union will close out the regular season tomorrow, when the Dutchmen head to Clarkson University for a 4 p.m. tipoff with the Golden Knights.