SCHENECTADY, N.Y. – Senior Luke McGarrity and first-year Brendan Reid combined for 31 points off the bench to lead the Union College men's basketball team to a season-opening 76-71 win over the College of Mount St. Vincent on Wednesday night at Viniar Athletic Center.
 
McGarrity led Union (1-0) with a career-high 20 points, hitting 7-of-11 shots from the field and 6-of-10 attempts from beyond the arc. Reid nearly had a double-double by halftime in his collegiate debut and finished with 11 points and a team-leading 12 rebounds to go with four assists, two steals and a block. Classmates Jack Plesser and Tanner Tedesco also made good impressions in their college debuts, with Plesser netting 10 points with five caroms and Tedesco dishing out eight assists to go with six rebounds.
 
Combined with eight points each from sophomore Christian Dufort and first-year Matthew Garside, Union newcomers combined for 40 points on the evening and helped the Garnet Chargers post a dominating 47-4 edge in bench points.
 
Joshua Cabezudo and Kevin Agyemang led all scorers with 21 points apiece for Mount St. Vincent (0-1) with Cabezudo hauling in a game-high 14 rebounds as well for the Dolphins.
 
CMSV jumped out to an early 8-2 run and held the lead for the first 10 minutes of the contest, but Union used a 14-5 run made up entirely of Reid and McGarrity buckets to take back the lead at 26-24 with 7:04 to go in the opening half. The lead grew to as many as nine with 4:03 on the clock after back-to-back layups by sophomore Aren Cummings and a Garside three, but the Dolphins whittled the lead down to just one before a layup by senior Edward Baptiste made it a 35-32 game at the half.
 
The visitors battled back to take their last lead of the game at 42-41 early in the second half, but Union responded with a huge 15-2 run that quickly turned the tide. Six different players had baskets for the home team during the big run, which was capped by a Dufort transition layup with 11:48 left that made it a 56-44 score. The lead grew to as many as 14 after a McGarrity three made the score 62-48 at the midway point of the frame, but 10 straight points quickly brought the visitors back into the game.
 
Union hung on despite sinking its last field goal of the night with 2:03 remaining, a Plesser jumper that gave the home team a 10-point cushion at 74-64. The Dolphins had a chance to tie the game with under 30 seconds to go down by three, but Garside jumped the passing lane to steal an Adrian Rraci pass and sunk two free throws at the other end to clinch the victory.
 
Union finished the game shooting 43.9 percent (29 of 66) from the field and a very efficient 11-of-21 (52.4 percent) from long range, while Mount St. Mary connected on just 36.5 percent (27 of 74) of its field-goal attempts and went 6-of-29 (20.7 percent) from downtown.
 
The Garnet Chargers will look to keep the good start going on Saturday when they visit Sarah Lawrence College for an 8 p.m. tipoff.