Men’s Basketball defeats Truett McConnell 75-69

CLEVELAND, Ga. (November 30, 2022) – The Milligan University men's basketball team notched its first road victory of the season as the Buffs took down Truett McConnell 75-69 on Wednesday evening.

Milligan moves to 3-4 on the season and 3-3 in Appalachian Athletic Conference (AAC) play. Truett McConnell falls to 4-4, 4-3 AAC.

An early three-point play by Flynn Carlson gave Milligan a 7-6 edge and a three by Sam Gold and two free throws by Dylan Bartley had the Buffs ahead 12-8 through five minutes of action. An 8-2 run put Milligan up 10 (24-14) at the midway point of the first half.

The Bears narrowed the margin to five points (26-21) with seven minutes to play in the period. Six made three throws in a little more than two minutes of game time had the Buffs up 32-23 with under five to play in the half. Sami Sanad scored five-straight points to push Milligan's advantage to 14 (37-23) with 2:40 remaining in the first half. TMU scored the final five points to send the teams to the halftime break with Milligan leading 37-28.

Bartley opened the second half with a three-pointer to push the Buffs' lead to a dozen. TMU worked back to an eight-points game before the Buffs responded with a 12-2 spurt that featured two more Bartley treys as Milligan's lead swelled to 54-37 seven minutes into the second half.

TMU scored the next five points to draw back to a 54-42 deficit with nine minutes remaining in regulation. Julian Wilson put an end to the run with a basket off a pass from Eli Walls. The Bears scored the next seven points, five of which came from the foul line, to bring the margin to seven (56-49) with 7:26 to play.

The Buffs worked back to a 10-point lead (61-51) with 6:40 remaining after Gold converted a layup and Drew Greene had a three-point possession. Greene had a layup with five minutes left that gave the Buffs a 63-56 edge and immediately after a TMU three-pointer, Greene assisted Bartley on his fourth triple of the evening.

TMU made another push, this time a three-point play trimmed Milligan's lead to four (66-62) but Gold sank a three to bring the margin back to seven (69-62) with 3:21 to play. The Bears got a layup and three-pointer on back-to-back possessions to make it a 69-67 game with two minutes left.

The Bears were off-line on a go-ahead three-point attempt and Gold scored to go ahead 71-67 with 1:06 remaining in regulation. Two TMU free throws made it a 71-69 game. The Buffs broke TMU's press and Bartley was fouled and calmly knocked down a pair of free throws to push the lead back to a four-poitn margin (73-69). On the Bears' next possession, Gold intercepted a pass and Levontae Knox found Greene for a fastbreak layup to seal the 75-69 victory.

All 18 of Bartley's points came from behind the arc or at the foul line as he was four-of-nine from deep and six-of-six from the charity stripe. Gold had 14 points and four rebounds. Greene chipped in 11 points and five assists. Sanad had five points and four assists and Carlson had seven points, seven rebounds and three blocks.

The Buffs shot 56.3 percent from the field and had 18 assists on 27 made baskets. Milligan never trailed after the first five minutes of action.

Milligan returns to action next Wednesday against St. Andrews.