SCHENECTADY, N.Y. – In a near-mirror image of the team's regular-season meeting in Schenectady, the second-seeded Union College men's basketball team overcame a 17-point first-half deficit to take a lead with under five minutes remaining, but third-seeded Vassar College outscored Union 12-4 over the final 4:02 to knock off the Garnet Chargers by a 72-67 score in the Liberty League Tournament semifinals on Friday night at Viniar Athletic Center.
 
In a battle between two of the conference's top players, Vassar senior Shea Fitzgerald scored a game-high 28 points while Union junior Jack Plesser had the game's only double-double with 24 points and a game-best 13 rebounds. Senior Christian Dufort was the only other Garnet Charger in double figures with 10 points, while Fitzgerald was helped by Parker Neuenhaus with 15 points and Nathan Denham with 12 points.
 
Senior Tanner Tedesco also chipped in eight points, six assists and six rebounds. With his first point of the night, the junior became the 26th player in program history to record 1,000 career points and, following Plesser's accomplishment earlier this year, made them the first pair of Union teammates to reach quadruple figures as juniors in the same season.
 
Just as in the first meeting of the season, Union came out of the gates cold, allowing Vassar to start on a 9-1 run. Plesser had eight of Union's first nine points to keep the team within 10 at 19-9, but the Brewers followed with a 9-2 stint to take the largest lead of the night at 28-11 with 7:53 left in the first half. Union battled back to get within single digits at the half, doubling up Vassar by a 16-8 margin the rest of the way to put the score at 36-27 after a layup by sophomore Harrison Collins in the final seconds.
 
Vassar outscored Union 12-8 over the first 3:30 of the second half to keep the lead at 12 (48-36), but the home team came back with a 9-0 run to get within a possession at 48-45 with 14:24 on the clock. The Garnet Chargers hung around for the next few minutes before making their move, a 13-2 stretch that put Union up 63-60 with 4:20 left after a Plesser layup. However, two turnovers and two missed shots allowed the Brewers to score the next seven points – all from Fitzgerald – to take back the lead at 67-63 with under two minutes to go.
 
A driving layup by senior Matthew Garside made it a 67-65 game with 1:15 remaining and Union got a stop at the other end, but a costly turnover gave the ball back to Vassar. Both teams went 1-for-2 at the line to keep it a 68-66 game with under 30 seconds to go, and two free throws each by Fitzgerald and Kreekor Karageuzian clinched the game for the Brewers.
 
Union shot an electric 61.5 percent (16 of 26) from the field in the second half to mount a comeback, but finished the game just 6 of 21 (28.6 percent) from long range and also had 15 turnovers, some of which killed the momentum late. Vassar finished the evening at 38.5 percent (25 of 65) from the field, but shot 10-of-17 (58.8 percent) from long range and got to the line nine more times than Union to emerge with the win.