Box Score

Daytona Beach, FL – The Elmira College Men's Basketball team could not overcome an early deficit as it fell in its first game of the Land of Magic Classic to Union College, 56-49, in Daytona Beach on Saturday evening. With the win the Dutchmen improve to 8-1, while the loss drops the Soaring Eagles to 0-9.

Elmira fell behind 7-0 after five early points from Union's Joe Mason. Both teams went through a four minute scoring drought as the Dutchmen held a 16-4 advantage with 10:45 remaining in the opening half. The Soaring Eagles outscored Union 17-13 the remainder of the frame to trail, 29-21, at intermission.

Chris Cassidy '14 and Neil Randolph '15 led Elmira with eight and seven points in the opening half, respectively. Mason paced the Dutchmen with eight in the scoring column in the first 20 minutes.

Randolph drained a three-pointer out of the half to get EC within five. The Purple and Gold remained within five on multiple occasions with Union increasing its lead to as many as 10 at 40-30 with 14:36 remaining.

Elmira pulled within 45-39 with 6:30 left after a Derrick Vogel '14 lay-in. Randolph hit a jumper with 2:46 remaining as the Soaring Eagles trailed by just five points at 51-46. However, EC missed shots on its next three possessions and was unable to cut into the deficit as Union prevailed for the victory, 56-49.

Randolph and Cassidy paced Elmira with 17 points apiece. Randolph shot 5-for-7 from the field and 2-for-4 from long distance. Meanwhile, Cassidy was a force finishing 8-for-15 on his shot attempts. Vogel tallied a game-high five assists for the Purple and Gold. Keven Donohue (16) and Mason (13) led the Dutchmen in scoring.

Union held a distinct 46-29 advantage on the backboards. Meanwhile, both teams struggled shooting the ball as Elmira finished 19-for-53 and the Dutchmen converted just 18 of their 53 shot attempts on the evening.

The EC Men's Basketball team returns to action in its final game of the Land of Magic Classic tomorrow evening when it takes on the United States Merchant Marine Academy at 8:00 p.m.

Stay up to date with the latest news directly from the Elmira College Athletics department by “liking” us on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/ElmiraCollegeAthletics) and “following” our Twitter account (http://twitter.com/ECSoaringEagles).