POUGHKEEPSIE, N.Y. - The Union College men's basketball team struggled from the field in the first half and never could recover in a 75-58 defeat at the hands of Vassar College in a Liberty League contest on Tuesday evening at AFC Gym.

Union (0-8, 0-3 Liberty League) shot just 34.3 percent (22 of 64) from the field on Tuesday night, getting off to a slow start from which the team could not recover. Senior Mike Manley led the team with 17 points and first-year Aren Cummings added 11, while Jack Rothenberg flirted with a triple-double with 16 points, 10 rebounds and nine assists to lead Vassar (5-2, 2-1 Liberty League).

Vassar finished the game shooting 44.8 percent (26 of 58) from the field. The difference came from beyond the arc, where the Brewers connected on 15-of-31 attempts while Union hit only 2-of-16.

Cummings hit a layup on Union's opening possession of the game and Union managed to keep Vassar off the scoreboard for the first four minutes, but the home team responded with a 19-2 run that made it a 15-point game with nine minutes to go in the first half. The visitors came back with 11 straight points to whittle the deficit down to four, but the Brewers answered back to take a 29-19 lead into halftime.

The offensive floodgates opened for both teams in the second half, but Union was unable to go point-for-point with the Brewers. Union got the deficit back down to six points after a Manley three made the score 32-26 with 15:55 on the clock, but back-to-back three-pointers quickly upped the lead to 12 and the deficit never fell into single digits again.

Union will return to action next Tuesday at 7 p.m. with a non-conference matchup at Farmingdale State College.