SCHENECTADY, N.Y. – Junior
Tanner Tedesco hit a buzzer-beating three-pointer to send the game to overtime and classmate
Jack Plesser reached the 30-point plateau for the second straight game to become the 25th player in program history to reach 1,000 career points as the Union College men's basketball team outlasted Rochester Institute of Technology by a 94-90 (OT) score on Tuesday night at Viniar Athletic Center.
Tuesday's game featured no shortage of drama, with the first bit checked off when Plesser scored his 15th point of the night to reach 1,000 points for his career, becoming just the sixth player in program history to reach quadruple figures in less than three seasons and the eighth-fastest ever to reach 1,000 (65 games). He finished the game with 30 points on 7-of-10 shooting from the field and a 16-of-18 mark from the free-throw line, ending up with the third-most points ever scored by a Union player in his 1,000-point game and the most since Ken D'Orazio '85 poured in a record 34 at Middlebury College on January 16, 1985.
Fresh off his D3hoops.com Team of the Week honor, Tedesco went for 22 points in the win, hitting 7-of-15 shots from the field and sinking 4-of-8 attempts from long range – with this most important trey coming last to save Union (11-2, 6-0 Liberty League), which did not trail for nearly 36 minutes before having to mount a late comeback.
RIT (4-9, 1-5 Liberty League) trailed by as many as 13 in the first half but slowly battled back into the game. After the home team successfully fended off the Tigers for several minutes, RIT used a 7-0 run to take its first lead of the evening and lead 77-73 with 3:25 on the clock. Tedesco hit two free throws and Plesser hit a layup to tie the game with 49 ticks left, and Plesser and RIT's Brody Brown traded baskets to keep the game tied headed under 30 seconds. Zac Ditzel looked to hit the final dagger with a three-pointer that put the Tigers up 82-79 with under three seconds left, but after a timeout Tedesco hit an improbable turnaround three at the buzzer to send the game to overtime.
Union shot just 1-of-5 from the field in the extra session, with the lone field goal coming from senior
Christian Dufort to make the score 86-82 with 3:48 remaining. However, the Garnet Chargers got it done from the charity stripe, hitting eight straight free throws the rest of the way to emerge with the win. Union closed overtime in an 8-3 run after RIT took an 87-86 lead with 2:21 on the clock, with Plesser hitting all four of his freebies and both Tedesco and classmate
Matthew Garside hitting a pair each.
Both teams hot just under 48 percent from the field on the evening, with RIT shooting a red-hot 54.2 percent (13 of 24) from long range to get back into the game. But Union got to the line 33 times and hit 26 (78.8 percent) to counteract the Tigers' three-point prowess and escape with the win.
Union will return to action on Friday with a 7:30 p.m. matchup against Bard College at Viniar Athletic Center.
