GENEVA, N.Y. – The Union College men's basketball team dropped its Liberty League opener to Hobart College by a 65-55 score on Friday evening at Bristol Gymnasium.
 
Sophomore Jack Plesser continued his solid play with a game-high 19 points, hitting 7-of-11 shots from the field and also adding a team-leading seven rebounds and two blocks for Union (3-3, 0-1 Liberty League). Classmate Matthew Garside added 15 points as well, while fellow sophomore Tanner Tedesco dished out a game-high eight assists and grabbed six rebounds.
 
Carter Meshanic scored 18 points and grabbed seven rebounds to lead Hobart (5-2, 1-1 Liberty League), followed by Aidan Rodgers with 10 points and a game-high eight rebounds.
 
Neither team led by more than five points in a closely contested first half that saw both teams shoot around 30.0 percent from the field. The lead changed hands six times in the opening 20 minutes, with the largest advantage coming at 23-18 after a Meshanic layup finished off a 10-2 run and put the Statesmen up 23-18 with 2:00 left. A pair of free throws by junior Neil Daterao and a Garside three quickly evened the score before a last-second layup put Hobart ahead 25-23 at the half.
 
The Garnet Chargers grabbed their last lead of the game early in the second half, getting a bucket from sophomore Jaden Jauregui and a Garside three-point play to take a 28-27 advantage. However, Hobart came back with 10 of the next 13 points as part of an extended 20-7 run over the span of almost seven minutes that extended the home team's lead to 47-35 with 11:02 on the clock. Six straight points after a Plesser three gave the Statesmen their largest lead of the night at 53-38 with 7:18 remaining, and Union could not get the deficit back to single digits the rest of the way.
 
Union struggled to find the basket for much of the night, shooting 33.3 percent (19 of 57) from the field and 17.9 percent (5 of 28) from long range. Hobart shot 50.0 percent in the second half to finish the game at 41.3 percent (26 of 63) from the field and outscored Union 42-18 in the paint.
 
Union will return to action tomorrow with a 4 p.m. matchup against Rochester Institute of Technology.