ITHACA, N.Y. – Behind a game-high 30 points from junior Jack Plesser, the Union College men's basketball team outscored Ithaca College by a 26-3 margin over an eight-minute stretch of the second half to pull away from last year's conference champions in an 81-73 victory on Saturday afternoon at Ben Light Gymnasium.
 
Plesser recorded his second 30-point game of the season and third of his career to pace Union (10-2, 5-0 Liberty League), hitting 10-of-15 shots from the field and 10-of-13 from the line to go with seven rebounds and four blocks. Classmate Tanner Tedesco added 16 points on 6-of-10 shooting and seven assists, while fellow junior Matthew Garside reached double figures with 14 points and senior Christian Dufort added nine and a game-high 10 rebounds.
 
Saturday's game was decided in the second half, when the Garnet Chargers shot 57.7 percent (15 of 26) from the field and 84.2 percent (16 of 19) from the line to outscore Ithaca (3-9, 2-3 Liberty League) by 15 points and get off to the best start to a conference slate in program history.
 
The visitors were down by five (49-44) with 14:17 remaining before the game turned completely, as Union scored 26-of-29 points to surge ahead by 18. Dufort started the run with a three-point play, followed by another and-one by Plesser that put the visitors ahead for the first time at 50-49. Another Plesser layup, a jumper from first-year Pat Cullinan, and five straight from Tedesco built the lead up to 10 at 59-49 with 9:16 to go. After an Ithaca basket snapped the 15-0 run, the Garnet Chargers came back with an 11-1 stretch that was capped by a Plesser alley-oop with 5:23 remaining to grow the lead to 70-52, the largest of the day.
 
Union only needed to take three field-goal attempts over the final five minutes of the game, with a 9-of-10 effort from the line more than enough to cruise to the victory. Ithaca outscored Union by a 21-11 mark the rest of the way to make the final score appear closer than the game ended.
 
Ithaca had control of the game for most of the first half thanks to 51.7 percent (15 of 29) shooting, building its lead up to as many as 11 points in the final 90 seconds of the frame. Union gained a little momentum at the end of the half with layups from Plesser and Garside to get within seven (39-32) at the break, setting the stage for a second-half comeback.
 
Union ended the day shooting 50.9 percent (28 of 55) from the field to go with a 20-of-25 effort from the charity stripe. After a tough first half, the Union defense limited the Bombers to just 39.4 percent (13 of 33) shooting in the second half to finish at 45.2 percent (28 of 62) for the afternoon.
 
The Garnet Chargers will return home for the first time in 2026 on Tuesday, as they kick off a busy week of Liberty League play with a 7:30 p.m. matchup against Rochester Institute of Technology.