SCHENECTADY, N.Y. - The Union College men's basketball team dug out of a 17-point first-half hole to take a lead with under five minutes remaining, but the Garnet Chargers could not conjure up more late-game magic and suffered their first Liberty League loss of the season to Vassar College by a 76-74 score on Saturday afternoon at Viniar Athletic Center.
 
Junior Jack Plesser reached the 30-point mark for the third time in the last four games and added a game-high 13 rebounds, and his 12-for-12 mark from the charity stripe is a new program record for most makes without a miss from the line. Classmate Tanner Tedesco had 15 points as well for Union (12-3, 7-1 Liberty League), which saw its eight-game winning streak snapped.
 
Vassar (10-3, 6-0 Liberty League) was led by the tandem of Shea Fitzgerald and Parker Neuenhaus, who combined for 51 of the team's 76 points.
 
The Garnet Chargers got off to a disastrous start in the battle for first place, as Vassar hit nine of its first 14 shots in jumping out to a 22-6 lead 8:15 into the game. Union managed just 3-of-11 shooting to start the contest in falling into a huge early hole. The home team settled in somewhat after the early struggles and got within nine on multiple occasions before heading into halftime down by 11 at 38-27. Union shot just 36.7 percent (11 of 30) from the field in the opening 20 minutes and missed on 11-of-12 three-point attempts to fall into the early hole.
 
The Brewers built their lead up to as many as 17 (49-32) early in the second half, but Union slowly chipped away at the deficit. A 12-2 run got Union back within seven with 13:29 left, finished off by a huge and-one dunk by sophomore Scott Schmitt. After staying within range over the next five minutes, another 12-1 stretch gave the home team its first lead of the game at 64-63 after a Tedesco triple with 5:47 left.
 
Union led by as many as three after a layup by Christian Dufort with 4:51 left made the score 68-65, but the visitors came back with nine of the next 11 points to take a 74-70 lead with 1:23 on the clock. A Plesser layup got Union back within a possession and Dufort hit two clutch free throws to tie the game at 74 with 15 seconds left, but Fitzgerald sunk the go-ahead shot with four seconds remaining to put the Brewers back in front. After a timeout, a half-court pass went wayward and the Garnet Chargers were unable to get off a potential game-winning shot.
 
Despite shooting 50.0 percent (14 of 28) from the field in the second half, Union finished the game at 43.1 percent shooting and only 6-of-24 (25.0 percent) from beyond the arc. The Garnet Chargers were able to stay in the game thanks to a 14-of-15 effort from the line in the second half and 18-of-19 shooting for the game.
 
After finishing up a busy three-game week, the Garnet Chargers have only one game on the schedule next week, a Friday night matchup at Hobart College set for a 7:30 p.m. tipoff.