Men’s Basketball edged late at St. Andrews

LAURINBURG, N.C. (November 16, 2023) – A late St. Andrews run in the closing minutes of regulation sank the Milligan University men's basketball team as the Buffs fell 91-86 in North Carolina on Thursday evening.

Milligan falls to 2-2 on the season and 2-2 in Appalachian Athletic Conference (AAC) league play. St. Andrews moves to 3-3, 1-3 AAC.

The Buffs trailed by eight points (59-51) with 10 minutes remaining in the second half after a 10-2 Knights spurt. Jaz Johnson sank a jumper, stole the ball and found Follie Bogan for a dunk and McCaskill Rivers converted a three-point play to brin the margin back to a single possession (61-58).

Milligan scored on three-straight trips and took a 64-63 lead with seven minutes left on another Johnson basket. Free throws by Bogan and McCaskill grew Milligan's lead to 69-65 with five minutes left to play.

The Knights embarked on a 16-4 run over the next four minutes of game time to erase the Buffs' lead and take an eight-point edge (81-73) with a minute to play. St. Andrews drilled back-to-back threes to kickstart the run and take the lead for good.

Milligan rallied in the final minute to get within one possession (88-86) with a Bogan layup. His intentionally missed free throw in the final seconds was corralled by St. Andrews who held on for the five-point win.

St. Andrews led by five (45-40) at the half after scoring the final two baskets of the period to cap a competitive opening 20 minutes.

Bogan led the Buffs with 25 points and nine rebounds. Milligan's bench had three scorers in double-figures with Luke Lentz scoring 17, Rivers pouring in 13 and Johnson pitching in 10.

The Buffs won the rebounding battle (36-29) and turnover battle (15-14) on the evening. Milligan attempted 13 more shots than the Knights and only three fewer free throws. Neither team shot the ball well from deep as Milligan had four of the six three-point makes on the evening.

The Buffs travel to NCAA Division I Middle Tennessee State University on Saturday.