SCHENECTADY, N.Y. – The Union College men's basketball team had its worst shooting game of the young season on Sunday afternoon in the championship game of the 2024 Sig Makofski Invitational, falling to Colby College by a 93-71 score at Viniar Athletic Center.
Sophomore
Jack Plesser reached the 20-point plateau for the third straight game, following up yesterday's 20-point outing with a team-leading 24 points to earn a spot on the All-Tournament Team. The sophomore also chipped in seven rebounds, three assists two steals and two blocks. Classmate
Jaden Jauregui hit 7-of-11 shots from the field on the way to a career-high 19 points, while fellow sophomore
Matthew Garside added 11 points.
Max Poulton scored 12 points and added nine rebounds and six assists for Colby (7-1), earning Tournament Most Valuable Player honors. Jack Lawson led the team with 22 points and 12 rebounds on Sunday to earn a spot on the All-Tournament Team. Plattsburgh State University's Kevin Tabb and Vermont State University Lyndon's Gregory Gonyea, Jr. also earned All-Tournament honors.
After a hot shooting day yesterday, Union did not have the same touch to start the game on Sunday, hitting just 33.3 percent (12 of 36) from the field and only 21.1 percent (4 of 19) from long range over the opening 20 minutes. Colby, meanwhile, shot over 50 percent both from the floor (19 of 34) and beyond the arc (8 of 15) to open up a 54-30 lead at the half.
Union trailed from the outset after Colby scored the game's first nine points. A three by sophomore
Tanner Tedesco brought Union within six at 25-19 with 11:25 left in the opening half; however, a 10-2 run opened up the visitors' first double-digit lead of the game. The Garnet Chargers trailed 35-24 after a Tedesco trey, but 11 straight Colby points put the Mules up by a 46-24 margin with 4:32 on the clock. The visitors closed the half with six straight points to take their largest lead of the game to that point.
Colby's lead grew to as many as 27 early in the second half after a Poulton layup 1:47 into the period, but an 8-2 Union run stemmed the tide. The Mules still led 65-41 with 15:02 remaining before Union made a run to get back into the game, rattling off 15 straight points to lower the deficit to single digits at 65-56 with 11:24 left to play. Plesser had nine of the team's points during the run, which saw Colby miss six straight shots and Union hit on 6-of-9 attempts. A three soon after by Jauregui brought the deficit down to eight at 67-59 with 9:25 to go.
The Garnet Chargers would get no closer, however, as Union missed its next four shots and Colby made its next four to open the lead back up to 15 with under seven minutes left. Union could not get the deficit beneath 12 the rest of the way as the Mules closed out the victory.
Union shot slightly better in the second half, but still finished the evening at 36.5 percent (27 of 74) from the field and 30.3 percent (10 of 33) from beyond the arc. Despite cooling down somewhat in the second stanza, Colby managed to finish the game shooting 47.8 percent (33 of 69) from the field.
Union will look to shake off the loss with the start of Liberty League play next weekend, beginning with a Friday night matchup at Hobart College at 7:30 p.m.
