St. Andrews’ outside shooting sinks Men’s Basketball on the road

LAURINBURG, N.C. (November 11, 2021) – The Milligan University men's basketball team built an early double-digit lead but St. Andrews used a barrage of three-pointers to rally back to defeat the Buffs 79-68 on Thursday evening.

St. Andrews picks up its first win of the season, moving its record to 1-3 overall and in Appalachian Athletic Conference (AAC) action. Milligan falls to 0-4, 0-3 AAC.

Milligan seized an early double-digit advantage with a 12-0 run that gave the Buffs a 14-3 lead after five minutes of action. During the scoring spurt Levontae Knox converted a pair of layups and connected on two free throws. Freshman Flynn Carlson, making his first career start, added four points in the hot start.

St. Andrews responded with five-straight points before Carlson put in the game's next two baskets to reestablish a double-digit lead for Milligan at 18-8 with just under 11 minutes to play in the first half. Knox kept the Buffs head by 10 at 20-10 with a layup with 8:40 to go in the half.

The Knights responded with a 20-6 run to close out the first half over the final eight minutes of play. St. Andrews knocked down four three-pointers in a three-minute span to take a 22-21 with 4:54 to go in the half.

Finn McClure drained a three with under two minutes to go in the half to reduce a four-point St. Andrews lead to one (27-26), but the Knights scored the final three points of the half to carry a 30-26 lead into the halftime break.

St. Andrews opened the second half with an 18-4 run over the opening 5:12 with four made three-pointers. The Knights' fourth three of the half pushed their advantage to 48-30.

SAU extended its lead to its largest of the night at 21 points (62-41) with just under six minutes left. Milligan responded with a rally of nine-straight points with three baskets from Knox and a triple from Adam Graham.

Trevor Hensley connected on a three of his own, Graham made two free throws and a steal from Alex Inman led to a Carlson layup to make it a 12-point (69-57) game with 2:53 remaining. A Knox basket with 31 seconds made it a 10-point contest (76-66) but the clock ran out on the Buffs' comeback attempt.

Knox led Milligan with a career high 24 points on 11-of-14 shooting from the field. He added nine rebounds, three steals, two blocks and two assists on the night. Hensley chipped in 14 points and Carlson recorded his first collegiate double-double in his fourth career game with 12 points and 11 rebounds.

Milligan owned a 39-34 edge in rebounding and a 42-24 advantage in points in the paint.

The Buffs shot 40.0 percent from the field, three-of-14 from three and 13-of-18 from the free throw line. St. Andrews had a 40.6 field goal percentage, made 11-of-29 threes and shot 14-of-20 from the charity stripe.

St. Andrews' Isaac Clay and Xzavier McFadden combined to shoot 10-of-18 from three and tallied 44 combined points to lead the Knights.

The Buffs head to Truett McConnell on Saturday for a 4:00 p.m. tipoff