ROCHESTER, N.Y. – Sophomore Christian Dufort led four Garnet Chargers in double figures with 17 points as the Union College men's basketball team clinched its first postseason berth in four years with an 83-76 victory over Rochester Institute of Technology on Friday night at Clark Memorial Gymnasium.
 
The win clinches a postseason berth for Union (14-9, 9-8 Liberty League) for the first time since 2020 and also keeps alive the hopes for a home playoff game. Union will enter tomorrow's regular-season finale tied with Bard College for fourth place in the conference standings, and could clinch fourth place with a win over Hobart College on Saturday.
 
Dufort continued his late-season surge with a team-high 17 points to go with 10 rebounds for his second straight double-double. Senior Connor Cepiel followed with 13 points, and first-years Tanner Tedesco and Brendan Reid chipped in 11 points apiece, with Tedesco adding eight assists and seven rebounds to his ledger.
 
Union doubled up RIT (12-12, 8-9 Liberty League) by a 12-6 margin over the first 5:30 of the game, with first-year Jack Plesser scoring five points for the visitors. However, the Tigers responded with a 17-5 extended run over the next 5:45 to take back the lead at 23-17 with 8:38 left in the half. The RIT lead grew to as many as seven after a Mark Osime three put the home team up 28-21 with 6:01 left, but an 8-2 run got Union back within a point with under four minutes remaining. RIT still led 35-31 with 1:55 left before Union closed on a 9-2 run, with first-year Matthew Garside capping the run by beating the first-half buzzer with a three to break a 37-all tie.
 
The teams were even almost across the board in the first 20 minutes, with both teams hitting 15 field goals and four three-pointers. Union's 6-3 edge at the charity stripe provided for the three-point difference at the half.
 
Senior Luke McGarrity started off the second half with eight of Union's first 10 points, finishing with a layup that put the Garnet Chargers up 50-41 with 5:40 gone by in the stanza. The lead grew to double figures (54-43) for the first time after back-to-back layups by Dufort and classmate Aren Cummings, and reached 15 after a Cepiel three put Union ahead 65-50 with 9:28 remaining.
 
A 13-5 RIT run got the Tigers back within seven (70-63) with 5:45 left on the clock, and a key basket by Cummings kept the visitors up 75-70 with under two minutes remaining. Cepiel came up big with a three-pointer to extend the lead back to eight, and then hit two free throws on the next possession to keep Union ahead by eight at 80-72 with 52 ticks left. Two straight layups got RIT back within four with 16 seconds left, but Union sealed the win from the free throw line.
 
Union shot 56.0 percent (14 of 25) from the field in the second half to finish the game at 51.8 percent (29 of 56) from the field, while RIT ended the night at 45.2 percent (28 of 62) from the floor.
 
Union will finish out the regular season tomorrow with a 4 p.m. tipoff at Hobart.