First half drought costs Men’s Basketball at CIU

COLUMBIA, S.C. (February 4, 2023) – The Milligan University men's basketball team was outscored 19-2 over the final six minutes of the first half and could not recover as the Buffs were defeated 78-62 at CIU on Saturday afternoon.

The Rams evened the series with the Buffs as Milligan fell to 9-14 overall and 9-11 in Appalachian Athletic Conference (AAC) action. CIU rose to 12-11, 11-9 AAC.

After a competitive first 10 minutes of action, CIU clung to a 10-9 edge in a low-scoring affair. Back-to-back three-pointers by Finn McClure helped the Buffs to a 15-12 edge with eight minutes left in the first half. Milligan enjoyed its largest lead of the game (21-14) as Levontae Knox scored with 6:04 left in the half.

The Rams proceeded to outscore Milligan 19-2 the rest of the half as the Buffs shot one-of-nine with three turnovers. CIU carried a 10-point (33-23) edge it would never relinquish into halftime.

Milligan got within seven points several times in the second half, the final time coming with the score 60-53 with 4:40 left in regulation but the Rams were able to pull away for the 16-point win.

Flynn Carlson led Milligan with 12 points on six-of-eight shooting. Lavontae Knox had 11 points and Sami Sanad had 10 points. McClure finished with eight points and seven rebounds.

The Buffs shot 49.0 percent from the field and scored 40 bench points, but CIU shot 50.9 percent from the field and drained eight threes at 38.1 percent.

The Buffs travel to Tennessee Wesleyan on Tuesday evening for a 7:30 p.m. tip.