OSWEGO, N.Y. – Junior Jack Plesser led all scorers with 23 points on 10-of-15 shooting from the field and added a game-high 10 rebounds to lead the Union College men's basketball team to a season-opening 84-55 win over SUNY Poly in the first round of the Oswego State Max Ziel Tournament on Friday afternoon.
 
With the win, Union (1-0) advances to tomorrow's championship game, where the Garnet Chargers will take on the host Lakers after Oswego's 106-66 victory over Mount St. Vincent.
 
Plesser led four Garnet Chargers in double figures on the day, followed by classmate Matthew Garside with 15 points. First-year Pat Cullinan went for 14 points off the bench in his collegiate debut and sophomore Harrison Collins added a career-best 12 points and a team-best four assists in 23 minutes.
 
With the game tied at eight in the early goings, Collins hit a three-pointer to put Union ahead and the Garnet Chargers never trailed over the final 34 minutes. Union shot 56.2 percent (18 of 32) from the field on the way to a 46-point first half, which saw the lead grow to as many as 23 points. Collins' three started a 16-2 run that opened up the first double-digit lead of the game, and a 10-0 run later in the frame cemented the advantage headed into halftime.
 
SUNY Poly hung around to start the second half and lowered the deficit to 16 with 14:38 remaining. However, Union never let the lead get any smaller and a 14-2 run later in the period bumped the lead up to as many as 31 points after a free throw by senior Kidder Lindley with 2:08 on the clock.
 
Union shot 50.0 percent (14 of 28) in the second half to finish the game at 53.3 percent (32 of 60) from the floor and 42.1 percent (8 of 19) from long range. The defense also forced 16 turnovers and limited SUNY Poly to 37.5 percent (21 of 56) shooting.
 
Union and Oswego will play in the championship game tomorrow beginning at 4 p.m.