Buffs fall to Tennessee Wesleyan at home

MILLIGAN, Tenn. (November 17, 2021) ­– The Milligan University men's basketball team fell in an Appalachian Athletic Conference (AAC) matchup against Tennessee Wesleyan University 75-60 at Steve Lacy Fieldhouse on Wednesday evening.

The Buffs slide to an overall record of 0-7 (0-6 AAC) with the loss while the Bulldogs remain undefeated in conference play with an overall record of 7-1 (4-0 AAC).

Through the first ten minutes of the first half, Tennessee Wesleyan outscored Milligan 16-6. The Bulldogs clung to that ten-point lead until the final seconds after a steal and made layup put them up 12 heading into the break.

Six buffs got into the scoring column in the first half, led by Levontae Knox with seven points followed by Trevor Hensley and Piripi Korent with six. As a team, Milligan outrebounded Tennessee Wesleyan 20-15 through the first 20 minutes of play led by Hensley and Sami Sanad who both had four.

The Buffs trimmed the lead to single digits six times over the course of the second half with their closest deficit coming at eight points. Bulldog guard Bryant Bernard took over for Tennessee Wesleyan in the second half with 14 points on five-of-nine shooting and two-for-three from the three-point line.

With just under two minutes remaining in regulation, Hensley cut the lead to nine points after a made layup off an outlet pass by Adam Graham. Tennessee Wesleyan then closed the game out scoring ten of the last 14 points to return home with a win.

Both teams struggled shooting the basketball with the Bulldogs slightly edging out the Buffs 41.5% to 38.2% from the field. Three-point percentage was also not great for both teams with TWU shooting 26.7% and Milligan 11.8%.

Despite the shooting woes for the Buffs offense, three players finished with double-digit points led by Knox and Hensley with 14 in addition to ten from Graham.

Josh Thomas finished with an excellent night on the defensive end of the floor tallying a game-high nine rebounds to go along with three blocks.

The Buffs will return to action Tuesday night at Bluefield College at 7:30 p.m. to begin a stretch of six road games.