SCHENECTADY, N.Y. – First-year Tanner Tedesco earned Tournament Most Valuable Player honors and senior Luke McGarrity also earned a spot on the All-Tournament team to lead the Union College men's basketball team to its first Sig Makofski Invitational title since 2018 with a 76-69 victory over SUNY Maritime on Sunday afternoon at Viniar Athletic Center.
 
Tedesco had 17 points, seven rebounds and five assists on Sunday and averaged 18.5 points, 6.5 boards and 5.0 assists in the two weekend wins. McGarrity went for 19 points on 7-of-8 shooting in the final and averaged 16.5 points per game in the two wins. First-year Matthew Garside led Union (5-0) with 20 points on Sunday, helped by a 9-of-9 effort from the free-throw line, and senior Connor Cepiel led all players with a career-best 10 rebounds to go with five points.
 
Maritime's Theo Noble led all players with 23 points to earn a spot on the All-Tournament team, along with Tahquell Cadel of Elms College and Daniel Oyediran of Hartwick College. Hartwick defeated Elms, 72-71, in Sunday's consolation game.
 
After a hot-shooting afternoon yesterday, Union struggled from the floor in the first half on Sunday, hitting 9-of-24 shots (37.5 percent), including a 3-of-11 mark from long range. The Privateers only shot 39.5 percent in the half, but used a 10-1 edge in offensive rebounds to take 14 more shots than the Garnet Chargers and also converted eight Union turnovers into 12 points.

The Privateers jumped out to an early 14-4 lead and led comfortably for the most of the half, leading by as many as 11 points in the final minute of the frame before a jumper by first-year Jack Plesser got the home team within nine at 34-25 at the half.
 
An 8-0 run to start the second stanza bumped the Maritime lead up to 17 at 42-25. The visitors still led 46-31 with 15:32 to go before Union used an 8-0 mini-run to get back within striking range, thanks to threes from Cepiel and Tedesco and a pair of McGarrity free throws.
 
Maritime led 58-50 with 8:40 on the clock before Union made a huge run, rattling off 20 straight points to charge back into the lead. McGarrity was a one-person wrecking crew during the run, going 5-for-5 from the field for 13 points and bookending the stint with huge three-pointers. Garside added five points and Tedesco chipped in two as the Garnet Chargers limited Maritime to 0-for-8 shooting and turned an eight-point deficit into a 70-58 lead with 3:19 on the clock.
 
A layup by McGarrity and free throws from Cepiel and Tedesco helped keep Maritime from getting closer than five points the rest of the way, as Union improved to 5-0 for the first time since 1999.
 
After a tough first half, Union shot a blistering 63.0 percent (17 of 27) from the field in the second half to finish the game at 51.0 percent (26 of 51) from the field, and hit 6-of-11 threes in the second stanza to finish at 40.9 percent (9 of 22) from long range. The Garnet Chargers did a much better job on the boards in the second half, outrebounding the Privateers 24-19 to limit the second-chance opportunities and provide trhe chance for a huge comeback.
 
Union will look to keep the momentum going into Liberty League play, as the Garnet Chargers kick off the conference slate against Hobart College on Friday at 7:30 p.m. at Viniar Athletic Center.