Late rally powers Men’s Basketball to season sweep of TWU

ATHENS, Tenn. (February 7, 2023) – The Milligan University men's basketball team scored on nine consecutive possessions in the final 5:03 of regulation to earn a 69-63 victory at Tennessee Wesleyan on Tuesday night.

The victory marked a season sweep of the second-place Bulldogs for Milligan. The Buffs move to 9-14 on the season and 9-11 in Appalachian Athletic Conference (AAC) league play. Tennessee Wesleyan falls to 14-7, 13-7 AAC.

The Bulldogs held a 54-50 edge with 5:20 left in regulation. The Buffs proceeded to outscore TWU 19-9 the rest of the way to earn the road victory.

Sam Gold started the Buffs' rally with a three and Sami Sanad's steal and layup put the Buffs ahead 55-54. Finn McClure canned a jumper after a TWU basket and Sanad sank two free throws to put Milligan up 62-58 with 1:48 remaining in regulation.

The Bulldogs made a three on their next trip to make it a 63-61 game with under 90 seconds left. After a lengthy possession, Sanad found McClure for a left-wing triple to prompt a TWU timeout with the Buffs ahead 66-61 with 59 seconds remaining.

Jackson Gabriel converted a pair of free throws with 27 seconds left to push the Buffs' lead to five (68-63). Sanad blocked TWU's next attempt and the Bulldogs' next shot missed its mark. McClure made a free throw and the Buffs held on for the six-point win.

Three-pointers by Dylan Bartley and McClure helped Milligan establish an early eight-point edge (10-2) over the game's first four minutes of action. The Buffs and Bulldogs exchanged points back and forth over the next six minutes before Eli Walls' triple put Milligan's lead at 20-12 at the midway point of the first half.

The Buffs pushed their edge to double digits (24-13) with a basket by Adam Graham with six minutes to play in the half. The Bulldogs responded with a 12-2 run to bring the Buffs' edge to one (26-25) with three minutes left in the half. Both teams scored in the final 10 seconds of the half as Milligan carried a 28-27 lead into the break.

The first five minutes of the second half saw the lead change hands seven times as neither team scored consecutive baskets until the Bulldogs took a 38-35 lead with 14 minutes to play. The Bulldogs built their lead to seven points (47-40) around the 10-minute mark but a three-pointer by Gold kept the Buffs within two possessions.

The Bulldogs scored on back-to-back possessions to lead 53-47, promoting a Milligan timeout with seven minutes left in regulation. Gabriel and Gold sank triples to cut the lead to one (54-53) with five minutes left.

Gold led the way offensively with 15 poitns, four rebounds and four assists. He shot six-of-nine from the field and three-of-six from deep. Sanad made six-of-seven foul shots on his way to 14 points and five assists. McClure had 11 points and Bartley added eight.

The Buffs won the rebounding (32-30) and turnover (11-8) battles. Milligan made nine threes at 45 percent while TWU sank five triples at 22.7 percent.

Milligan hosts Bluefield on Thursday evening at 7:30 p.m.