ANNANDALE-ON-HUDSON, N.Y. – The Union College men's basketball team dropped a third straight Liberty League contest on Thursday night, falling to host Bard College by a 72-59 score at Stevenson Athletic Center.
Junior
Christian Dufort recorded his second straight double-double for Union (3-5, 0-3 Liberty League) with a team-high 15 points and 10 rebounds, followed in double figures by sophomore
Matthew Garside with 12 points and classmate
Tanner Tedesco with 11 points to go with five steals, five assists and four rebounds.
Lazaros Panagiotounis paced three Raptors in double figures with 17 points. Sean Wilcox fpllowed with 11 points and a game-high 13 rebounds, while Rowan Heinze also had 11 points for Bard (5-3, 2-1 Liberty League).
Dufort opened the scoring on Union's second possession and started an 8-2 run to begin the contest for the visitors. Bard came back with a 12-2 run over a 2:33 span to gain the lead for the first time at 14-10 with 13:02 to go and the Raptors maintained their edge for the remainder of the half, with the advantage reaching as high as seven on a pair of occasions.
The Garnet Chargers shot just 30.0 percent (9 of 30) from the field and hit on only 1-of-13 three-point attempts in the first half, but went 8-for-8 from the line to stay in the game. Bard connected at a 37.5 percent (12 of 32) clip over the opening 20 minutes.
A three from Dufort early in the second half got Union back within a basket, but seven straight points put the home team up by double digits for the first time at 42-32 with 15:45 on the clock. A Tedesco trey temporarily stemmed the tide; however, Bard came back with seven straight points to balloon the lead to 14 at 49-35 with 10:53 left. The visitors started the second half shooting 3-of-17 over the first 10 minutes to fall into the hole.
The Bard lead increased to as many as 17 (62-45) after a Panagiotounis triple with 3:58 left. A quick 11-2 run brought Union back within single digits at 64-56 with under two minutes remaining, but Max Frei hit a huge second-chance jumper to beat the shot clock on the next possession to keep the Garnet Chargers at bay.
Union finished the game shooting 21-of-66 (31.8 percent) from the field and 7-of-30 (23.3 percent) from distance. Bard ended the night at 45.5 percent (25 of 55) from the field.
Union will close out 2024 after the holiday with two games at the Emory Holiday Classic, beginning with a neutral site matchup against LaGrange College on Sunday, December 29 in Atlanta.
