ANNANDALE-ON-HUDSON, N.Y. – First-year Cade Furse scored a season-high 21 points off the bench to lead all scorers and lead the Union College men's basketball team to an 84-56 victory over Bard College in Liberty League action on Saturday afternoon at the Stevenson Athletic Center.
 
The win keeps Union (18-5, 13-3 Liberty League) in a tie for second place with Vassar College with two games remaining in the regular season and also sets a new program record for conference wins in a season, surpassing the previous record of 12 set on three occasions. The Garnet Chargers will need to win both games next weekend and have Vassar lose at least one contest to clinch a top-two seed and a pass into the Liberty League Tournament semifinals.
 
Furse had the best game of his young college career on Saturday, hitting 6-of-8 shots from the field – including all three from beyond the arc – as well as a 6-of-6 effort from the line to go with four rebounds and four assists. He was joined in double figures by junior Tanner Tedesco (16 points), junior Matthew Garside (15 points) and senior Christian Dufort (13 points). Dufort and sophomore Will Yakoobian also grabbed a game-high nine rebounds apiece as well.
 
The Garnet Chargers started the game strong, scoring on their first four possessions – helped by four offensive rebounds – to take an early 10-3 lead at the first media timeout. Senior Neil Daterao scored four points and both Garside and Dufort added three each during the run, which gave Union a lead it would never relinquish. Up by six (24-18) with 6:51 left to go in the half, the visitors outscored the home team by an 18-6 margin over the next 4:30 to open up an 18-point edge and eventually built the lead up to as many as 21 in the first half before two Bard free throws made it a 47-28 score after 20 minutes.
 
Union shot 50.0 percent (16 of 32) from the field and 53.8 percent (7 of 13) from long distance in the first half, while also posting an 11-1 edge in points off turnovers and a 14-4 advantage in second-chance points.
 
The visitors continued to dominate in all facets in the second half, as the lead got no lower than 19 points at any point and stayed above 20 points for almost the entirety of the frame. A three by Furse with 14:46 to go made it a 60-34 game, and the lead eventually ballooned to as many as 28 for the first time at 70-42 after a Tedesco triple with 10:36 on the clock. The team reached the 28-point mark on three more occasions in the second half following baskets by first-year Pat Cullinan (74-46), junior Jaden Jauregui (82-54) and junior Cam Perez (84-56).
 
Union shot 43.7 percent (31 of 71) from the field and 42.3 percent (11 of 26) from long range on the day, finishing with 15 more shot attempts thanks in part to a commanding 53-32 edge on the boards.
 
Union will finish off the regular season with a weekend in the North Country, beginning on Friday at 7:30 p.m. at Clarkson University.