SCHENECTADY, N.Y. – The Union College men's basketball team hit clutch shots at the end of the regulation to send the game to overtime and held a six-point lead in the extra frame, but the team went scoreless for more than half of overtime to allow Rochester Institute of Technology to escape with an 81-79 win on Friday night at Viniar Athletic Center.
 
Mike Manley poured in a team-best 20 points for Union (2-12, 1-6 Liberty League), including a trio of clutch free throws in the final seconds that tied the game after regulation. First-year Aren Cummings had his best game of the season with 18 points on 9-of-15 shooting to go with four rebounds and five steals, while senior Chris Lovisolo added a season-best 10 points off the bench.
 
Kevin Ryan was huge – figuratively and literally – for RIT (7-6, 3-3 Liberty League) on the night, leading all players with 26 points on 8-of-14 shooting to go with 12 rebounds and four assists. Brock Bowen chipped in 20 points and four steals, and Andrew Fox just missed a double-double with nine points and 12 boards as well as three blocks.
 
RIT looked to be in good shape after a 10-0 run put the visitors up 49-37 with 12:52 to go in the second half, but Union held the visitors without a field goal for nearly seven minutes to get back into the contest. Still trailing by eight with 2:57 left, jumpers by Cummings and Manley halved the deficit before a big three by Lovisolo made it a 61-60 game inside the final minute. Two Ryan free throws made it a three-point game, but Manley was able to get Mark Osime in the air on a three-point attempt with 6.6 ticks on the clock, and the senior calmly made all three free throws to send the game to overtime.
 
Union scored on its first three possessions of overtime, including back-to-back threes by Lovisolo and classmate Brian Noone that put the home team up 71-65 with 3:25 left. However, the offense went cold and RIT scored on four straight trips down the court to take a 76-71 lead with 56 seconds left. Manley gave Union life with a quick three, and then countered two Bowen free throws with a jumper to again get within a bucket at 78-76 with 10 seconds on the clock.
 
RIT's Matt Caggiano came off the bench to hit a pair of critical freebies to regain the four-point lead, which was essential after another late three by Manley with 1.6 seconds remaining. Caggiano missed one of two attempts to give Union one last shot, but a Lovisolo prayer at the buzzer went unanswered off the backboard.
 
Union finished the game with 21 more shot attempts than RIT, but shot just 39.5 percent from the field (30 of 76) compared to the visitors' 47.3 percent (26 of 55). The big difference came at the charity stripe, which the Tigers got to 33 times and hit 24 (72.7 percent) compared to Union's 9-of-17 (52.9 percent) effort at the line.
 
Union will look to shake off the loss tomorrow with another crucial conference clash against Hobart College beginning at 4 p.m. at Viniar Athletic Center.