TROY, N.Y. – The Union College men's basketball team started strong and led for almost the entire first 35 minutes of the game, but Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute closed the game on a 14-6 run to take a 65-60 victory over the Garnet Chargers in a Liberty League matchup on Saturday afternoon at East Campus Athletic Village Arena.
 
Junior Christian Dufort led four Garnet Chargers in double figures with 14 points, hitting 5-of-8 shots from the field, including a 4-for-4 mark from long range. Sophomore Tanner Tedesco registered 12 points, six assists and five rebounds; while classmates Jack Plesser and Brendan Reid added 11 and 10 points, respectively, as well for Union (8-9, 4-6 Liberty League).
 
PJ Scalisi scored a game-high 16 points to lead RPI (14-3, 8-3 Liberty League), followed by Dylan Matchett with 14 points and Andrew Deppe with 10.
 
Union scored the first six points of the game and never trailed in the opening half, as the visitors locked in both offensively and defensively. The Engineers got within a point at 14-13, but a three by sophomore Matthew Garside and a Reid jumper quickly reestablished Union's advantage. An 8-0 run finished off by two Tedesco freebies gave the Garnet Chargers their largest lead of the game at 30-17 with 4:21 left, and a late three by Garside put the visitors up 38-26 at the half.
 
Reid led Union with 10 points in the first half, hitting all three of his field-goal attempts and all four of his free-throw tries to lead all scorers. As a team, Union shot 48.0 percent (12 of 25) from the field and also hit 10-of-12 shots from the charity stripe.
 
Union held a comfortable lead for the first four minutes of the second half but RPI responded with a 12-0 run to knot the score at 45 with 11:41 remaining. A Tedesco jumper put Union back on top and the visitors maintained a tenuous edge for most of the next six minutes.
 
However, after Plesser put Union up 56-55 with 5:49 left, the Garnet Chargers went over four minutes without a point, as the team missed three straight shots and also turned the ball over twice. The Engineers scored five points during that run to take a 60-56 advantage before Plesser finally ended the run with a floater that made it a one-possession game again entering the final minute.
 
After the teams traded misses, Union had a chance to get possession with a chance to tie, but could not corral a missed free throw and PJ Scalisi hit a pair from the line to give RPI a 63-58 lead with 17 seconds left. A missed three and two more RPI freebies helped to seal the win for the Engineers.
 
The Garnet Chargers hit on only 9-of-26 shots (34.6 percent) in the second stanza to finish the game at 41.2 percent (21 of 51) overall, while Rensselaer hit 10-of-21 attempts (47.6 percent) in the final 20 minutes to end the game at 43.5 percent (20 of 46). The Engineers also held a 20-12 edge at the charity stripe as well.
 
Union will remain in the Capital Region to start next weekend, heading north to Skidmore College for a 7:30 p.m. matchup on Friday night.