SCHENECTADY, N.Y. – The Union College men's basketball team finished off the opening weekend of Liberty League play by suffering a 73-61 defeat at the hands of Rochester Institute of Technology on Saturday afternoon at Viniar Athletic Center.
 
Senior Edward Baptiste led Union (5-2, 0-2 Liberty League) with 11 points on 5-of-7 shooting from the field, followed by classmate Connor Cepiel with 10 points. Sophomore Aren Cummings chipped in seven points and a team-best seven boards and classmate Christian Dufort grabbed seven rebounds as well.
 
Chase Dickens scored a game-high 28 points to lead RIT (3-3, 1-1 Liberty League) to the win, and he was joined in double figures by Brock Bowen (11 points) and Kenny Wilburn (10 points).
 
Union finished the day shooting better than RIT from the field, hitting 23 of 47 attempts (48.9 percent) from the field, but the Garnet Chargers turned the ball over 25 times to give the Tigers extra opportunities and the visitors cashed in with a 24-2 edge in points off turnovers.
 
Baptiste started the afternoon with a conventional three-point play, but RIT came back with 10 of the next 14 points and the visitors never trailed the rest of the way. A 13-6 run gave the Tigers their largest lead of the half at 36-24 with 2:25 left in the opening half, but five points from Cepiel helped the Garnet Chargers get back within nine (40-31) at the half.
 
Cepiel started the second half with a three to make it a six-point game, but a quick 10-3 run put the visitors up by a 50-37 score with 16:32 on the clock. Seven straight points by the home team brought the deficit down to four (62-58), but Union did not hit a field goal over the final 8:36 of the contest to stifle any chance of a comeback. Despite holding RIT to 2-of-11 shooting over that span, Union missed its final five shots from the field and turned the ball over six times down the stretch to suffer its second straight defeat.
 
Union will return to action on Wednesday with a Liberty League matchup at Bard College beginning at 7:30 p.m.