SCHENECTADY, N.Y. – First-years
Tanner Tedesco and
Jack Plesser of the Union College men's basketball team swept the weekly Liberty League awards on Monday, with Tedesco earning Performer of the Week honors and Plesser adding Rookie of the Week recognition.
Tedesco and Plesser are the first Union tandem to sweep the Liberty League weekly awards in almost 13 years, since Drew Goldstein '11 earned Performer of the Week honors and Keith Callies '14 was named Co-Rookie of the Week on February 21, 2011.
The awards could very well have been switched for the two rookies, who both played pivotal roles in Union posting a perfect 3-0 week and increasing its overall winning streak to four games. Union started the week on Tuesday with a 91-86 victory over Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, then swept the weekend by cruising past Skidmore College, 93-63, on Friday and besting Ithaca College by an 87-81 score on Saturday.
Tedesco had a big week for the Garnet Chargers, averaging 19.0 points, 4.0 assists and 4.0 rebounds in three games. The guard shot 59.4 percent (19 of 32) from the field, 62.5 percent (10 of 16) from long range, and 90.0 percent (9 of 10) from the free-throw line in the three victories. Tedesco started the week with 20 points and five boards in a victory over Rensselaer, then hit 7-of-8 shots from the field for 18 points in just 24 minutes of a victory against the Thoroughbreds. He capped his week by scoring 15 of his team-leading 19 points in the second half while adding six assists and five rebounds versus Ithaca.
Plesser also played a big part in the undefeated week, averaging 17.7 points on 74.2 percent (23 of 31) shooting and 4.7 rebounds in three games. The first-year hit 10-of-12 shots overall and scored 17 of his 23 points in the second half in a 91-86 victory over RPI, and then went for 20 points (on 8-of-12 shooting) with eight rebounds and two assists in just 21 minutes against Skidmore. He capped his week by scoring 10 points with five boards and two blocks in Union's first victory over Ithaca since 2018, a stretch of nine straight games.
Tedesco leads Union by averaging 11.3 points per game and is shooting 45.6 percent from the field while also dishing out a team-leading 78 assists to rank second in the Liberty League. Plesser is averaging 9.0 points and 4.2 rebounds per game so far this season while shooting 55.5 percent from the field.
Union will look to keep its winning streak going on Friday when the team heads across to river to again do battle with Rensselaer on Friday at 7:30 p.m. in Troy.
