Bergen Versus Union

PARAMUS, NJ -- Bergen Bulldogs Men's Basketball lost a tough one Tuesday night 100-92 in overtime Tuesday night to Union County College. Union came in as one of the hottest teams in the league having won 9 of their last 10 games. Bergen made the game exciting but ultimately came up short.

This game had a similar start to the Women's game played immediately beforehand. Union jumped out to an early lead going up 11-4 in the first 3 minutes. By the 10 minute mark they had extended the lead to 22-13. The Bulldogs seemed to be getting out played for most of the first half however they were able to keep the game from getting out of hand. The first half ended with an exciting steal by Brett Fiore which led to fast break and an easy layup for Joseph Esteves as the half came to a close with Bergen trailing 42-35. The Bulldogs did not lead at any point in the first half.

Trailing by 7 points to start the second half, Bergen got tough and cut the lead down to only 2 points with 11:41 remaining in the game. That was as close as they would get at that time though as Union built the lead back up to 13 (81-68) with 5 minutes to go. But the Bulldogs wouldn't quit and were able to climb back and tie the game 86-86 with 51 seconds remaining. The crowd who had been really into the game the whole time went crazy when the 3 point shot went in to tie the game. This was the first time Bergen was not behind since the opening tip of the game. Both teams missed their last attempts at game winning shots and the game went into overtime. The Bulldogs scored first in overtime taking an 88-86 lead - their first lead of the game. That was the last positive moment for the Bulldogs however as Union retook the lead and never looked back. The Owls pulled away in overtime and Bulldogs finished with a 100-92 loss.

"This one hurts," said Coach Osbourne after the game, "they battled from beginning to end of the game, played tough, played hard, but the little things cost us the game". The Bulldogs had missed 2 different slam dunk attempts on breakaways in the first few minutes of the game.

The Bulldogs will now have a few days off before they return to action on Saturday. They play away game at Cumberland County College at 2:00 pm. The Cumberland Dukes are 15-7 on the year and will enter the game on a 3 game winning streak.

Make sure to follow Bergen's sports teams on Instagram and Twitter @BergenAthelics for highlights, videos, schedules, interviews, news, and more!

Written by Eric Meistrich