Men’s basketball closes season with loss in AAC tourney
A near triple-double from all-freshman point guard Finn McClure plus a go-ahead three from Jackson Gabriel with four and a half minutes left was not enough as the Milligan University men’s basketball team fell to Tennessee Wesleyan, 88-81, in the quarterfinals of the Appalachian Athletic Conference tournament Thursday afternoon at MeadowView Conference Resort and Convention Center.
| Final | 1 | 2 | T |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Milligan
11-10
|
40 | 41 | 81 |
|
Tennessee Wesleyan (AAC Tournament)
15-7
|
40 | 48 | 88 |
Team Stats
Tennessee Wesleyan (AAC Tournament)
| Game Statistics | Milligan | Tennessee Wesleyan (AAC Tournament) |
|---|---|---|
| Field Goals | (29-54) | (35-72) |
| Field Goal % | 53.7% | 48.6% |
| Rebounds | 32 | 38 |
| Assists | 18 | 16 |
| Turnovers | 16 | 10 |
| Pts off Turnovers | 14 | 20 |
| 2nd Chance Pts | 2 | 21 |
| Pts in the Paint | 51 | 65 |
| Fastbreak Pts | 14 | 6 |
| Bench Pts | 34 | 5 |
KINGSPORT, Tenn. (Feb. 25, 2021) – A near triple-double from all-freshman point guard Finn McClure plus a go-ahead three from Jackson Gabriel with four and a half minutes left was not enough as the Milligan University men's basketball team fell to Tennessee Wesleyan, 88-81, in the quarterfinals of the Appalachian Athletic Conference tournament Thursday afternoon at MeadowView Conference Resort and Convention Center.
McClure scored nine points, tallied nine assists and gathered eight rebounds. He was fifth in the scoring column for Milligan as David Tripp scored 17, Gabriel 14, Levontae Knox 11 and Tyler Faulkenberry 10.
Milligan and Tennessee Wesleyan went back and forth the whole way, with both teams leading by as many as four but neither team leading by more than five in the first half. Tennessee Wesleyan was the first to break that trend with a 9-0 run that helped make it an 11-point game early in the second half.
Milligan battled back through the second half and capped an 11-2 run with two made free throws by Jeffrey Selden to tie the game with under five minutes left. It marked the first tie since teams went into the halftime break at 40-40.
Following Selden's free throws, Gabriel knocked down a triple in front of Milligan's bench to put the Buffs on top by three, but it would start a scoring drought for the Buffs, as Tennessee Wesleyan answered with a 15-1 run to take the final lead and put the game out of reach.
With the loss, Milligan ended its season with a record of 11-10 (10-8 AAC).