POTSDAM, N.Y. – Sophomore Tanner Tedesco led four Garnet Chargers in double figures with 20 points as the Union College men's basketball team won its fifth straight game with a 71-70 victory at Clarkson University on Friday night at Alumni Gymnasium. 
 
The win keeps Union (13-9, 9-6 Liberty League) in a tie for fourth place in the Liberty League with Hobart College, one game back of Ithaca College in third place with three games remaining in the regular season.
 
Tedesco filled up the stat sheet once again for the Garnet Chargers, scoring 20 points and adding seven rebounds and seven assists. Classmate Jack Plesser chipped in 16 points while classmate Matthew Garside added 12 and junior Christian Dufort scored 10 for the visitors.
 
Braeden Burns scored a game-high 25 points for Clarkson (11-11, 7-8 Liberty League), which remains in a tie for sixth place in the conference with St. Lawrence University.
 
After Clarkson started the game on a 10-6 run, Union came back with nine straight points – seven from Plesser – to take a 15-10 lead, and the visitors would not relinquish their advantage the rest of the way. A Garside three-pointer gave the Garnet Chargers their largest lead of the game at 27-16 with 6:11 to go in the opening half, but a 14-5 run kept the Golden Knights in the game. Plesser and Garside sunk three pointers over the final three minutes to put the visitors up by six (40-34) at the half.
 
The home team got within a point on five occasions in the second half, but Union continued to have an answer offensively to remain in the lead. The visitors went over five minutes without a field goal midway through the frame, but hit 8-of-9 shots from the line to maintain a lead before a three from sophomore Brendan Reid put Union up 59-51 with 9:10 left.
 
Big threes from Dufort and Tedesco put the Union lead at seven (69-62) with 2:29 on the clock, and the visitors maintained its seven-point edge after two Tedesco freebies with 38 seconds remaining. Clarkson chipped away at the lead and multiple offensive rebounds gave the Golden Knights a chance to tie the score in the final seconds, but the Union defense forced a low-percentage three attempt from Burns that did not fall at the final buzzer to give the visitors a win.
 
The Garnet Chargers earned the win despite shooting just 29.6 percent (8 of 27) from the field in the second half and 38.6 percent (22 of 57) for the evening. Clarkson shot 43.9 percent (29 of 66) from the field but connected on just 5-of-23 three-point attempts, while Union held a decisive 18-7 edge in free throws.
 
Union will go for a sixth straight win tomorrow with a 3 p.m. matchup at St. Lawrence.