SCHENECTADY, N.Y. – The Union College men's basketball team wrapped up the 2023 portion of its schedule with an 81-65 loss to Farmingdale State College on Thursday night at Viniar Athletic Center.
 
Sophomore Aren Cummings matched his career high with a team-leading 18 points, hitting 9-of-13 shots from the field to go with five rebounds, two steals and one assist. He was joined in double figures by classmate Christian Dufort with a career-high 12 points and seven rebounds in his first collegiate start, while first-year Tanner Tedesco added eight points, seven assists and three steals for Union (5-4) as well.
 
Aaron Davis led four Farmingdale State (10-1) players in double figures with a game-high 25 points, 10 rebounds and five assists. Corey Powell added 15 points and eight boards, while Jevon Santos also had a double-double with 10 points, 10 caroms and six assists for the Rams.
 
Both teams ran up and down the court during a frantic first half that saw the teams combine for 76 shots in 20 minutes. Both teams attempted 38 shots and Union made one more field goal than Farmingdale, but the visitors went 9-of-16 (56.3 percent) from long range and the home team hit only 3-of-14 attempts (21.4 percent) as the Rams took a 44-37 lead into the half.
 
The Garnet Chargers jumped out to an early 6-2 lead thanks to two baskets from Cummings and one from Tedesco, but the Rams used a 12-0 run – helped by eight points from Davis – to take a 24-13 lead with 10:59 remaining. Union did its best to prevent the visitors from making any more runs for the remainder of the half and got to within five after a Cummings bucket and a three from senior Connor Cepiel with 3:23 left. Farmingdale's last four field goals of the half all came from long range, while Union got back-to-back baskets from Cummings and senior Edward Baptiste to get back within seven at the break.
 
The pace – and the number of three-point attempts – slowed down slightly in the second stanza, but Union was unable to put a dent in the deficit. The home team could not string together consecutive baskets until the 4:41 mark of the half, by which point Farmingdale had already built up its largest lead of the night at 70-54. Union shot 38.2 percent (13 of 34) from the field in the second half, while Farmingdale connected on 15 of 37 attempts (40.5 percent).
 
Three-point shooting provided the difference on Thursday night, with the Rams hitting 13 of 24 attempts (54.2 percent) from long range while the Garnet Chargers shot just 5 of 24 (20.8 percent) on their long-distance tries. Farmingdale also did a good job of getting out in transition, outscoring Union 21-6 on the fast break.
 
Union will return to action after the New Year, kicking off a string of 15 straight Liberty League contests on January 5 at Ithaca College.