TROY, N.Y. - The Union College men's basketball team put a scare into Division I University at Albany on Monday night, holding a lead in the second half before ultimately falling by a 87-75 score at Hudson Valley Community College's McDonough Sports Complex.
Senior Mike Manley led all players with 28 points for Union, shooting 8-of-19 from the field, 5-of-10 from beyond the arc and 7-of-8 from the charity stripe. Senior Brian Noone chipped in 14 points and a team-leading seven rebounds, and junior Edward Baptiste also reached double figures with 14 points on 7-of-11 shooting to go with six boards, as the Dutchmen did not back down against their Division I opponent.
"We came here to compete," said head coach Chris Murphy '06. "As a college basketball player, you only get opportunities like this every so often, so I told the guys to embrace the challenge."
Gerald Drumgoole Jr. paced Albany (2-2) with 26 points, followed by Jonathan Beagle with a big double-double of 17 points and a game-high 13 rebounds. Aaron Reddish added 17 points and Sarju Patel chipped in 11 points as well for the Great Danes.
Albany scored five of the game's first seven points to take an early lead, but Union never allowed the bigger team to grow its lead to more than six points. Down by three with under two minutes left in the half, Noone hit a jumper and Manley found Baptiste for a fast-break dunk to give Union its first lead at 27-26. The lead lasted exactly seven seconds before the Great Danes went back on top, but a good defensive possession gave the visitors one last shot and Manley hit a driving layup to give Union a 30-29 lead at the break.
Manley led all players with nine points at the half, while Noone had seven points and a team-best five boards. Union shot 40.6 percent (13 of 32) from the field in the opening 20 minutes, but limited Albany to 3-of-13 shooting from beyond the arc and 41.4 percent (12 of 29) shooting overall. Despite giving up plenty of height, Union scored 20 points in the paint to UAlbany's 12 in the first half.
"We were really focused on limiting penetration," said Murphy. "In the first half, we really limited that and did a really good job in transition. Once they were able to penetrate they did a good job of kicking out to shooters in the second half."
Play opened up considerably in the second half, with both teams shooting well over 50 percent from the field and getting good looks at both ends of the floor. A bucket by first-year Aren Cummings built the lead up to three points in the first minute of the half, and the visitors held their last lead of the night at 34-33 when senior Justin Regis hit a layup with 17:55 on the clock.
However, UAlbany's athleticism and sharp shooting became more evident in the second half, beginning with a stretch of seven points in less than a minute that put the home team back in front at 40-34. Union certainly did not go away, getting the deficit back down to two soon after and staying within single digits for almost the entirely of the second stanza. It was a four-point game at 72-68 after Manley hit a pair of free throws with 3:19 remaining, but a 9-2 run finally created some distance for the home team down the stretch.
Union hit 16 of 29 shots (55.2 percent) in the second half to finish the game at 47.5 percent from the field, just behind Albany at 50.0 percent (30 of 60). Four more three-pointers and an 18-12 edge in points from the charity stripe ended up being the difference.
"Even though we lost today, we showed who we could be," Murphy added. "So now that we've had a good performance, let's see how we respond to that. There is part of me that is going to come to practice [on Wednesday] and hold us to this level that I saw tonight. Because I know what's in there and what we are capable of, and hopefully we can get back to full strength and respond well."
Union will take time off for finals and Thanksgiving before returning to the court on Saturday, November 26 for day one of the 2022 Sig Makofski Invitational. Union will take on St. Joseph's College of Maine at 4 p.m. following SUNY Poly and St. Joseph's College (L.I.) at 2 p.m.
