Bartley leads Men’s Basketball to 74-72 win at St. Andrews

LAURINBURG, N.C. (February 11, 2023) – The Milligan University men's basketball team pulled out a 74-72 road victory at St. Andrews on Saturday afternoon.

The Buffs move back to .500 in Appalachian Athletic Conference (AAC) action at 11-11 and now stand at 11-14 overall. St. Andrews falls to 2-20, 4-21 AAC. With the victory, the Buffs enter the final week of the regular season as winners of six of their last eight games.

The Buffs led 59-53 midway through the second half but the hosts battled back to tie the game at 65 with five minutes left in regulation.

A basket by Levontae Knox and a three-point play from Sami Sanad put the Buffs ahead 71-67 with three minutes left. The Knights trimmed the margin to 71-70 with a dunk with just over two minutes left. After Dylan Bartley had a shot blocked, he grabbed the rebound and was fouled. He sank to free throws to lead 73-70 before SAU made two free throws to bring it back to a one-point game with 1:20 remaining.

The Buffs used as much clock as they could in the final minute and Sam Gold blocked a game-tying attempt at the buzzer to preserve the 74-72 victory.

Milligan started fast with Dylan Bartley draining back-to-back threes to open the game, Flynn Carlson flushing a dunk while being fouled and Finn McClure sinking a triple of his own before converting a layup. The opening flurry had Milligan ahead 14-3 after five minutes of play. The Knights worked back into the game and held a 38-36 halftime lead. The Buffs controlled the opening minutes of the second half before the competitive conclusion.

Bartley finished with a career high 32 points and eight rebounds. He shot six-of-11 from three and 10-of-14 from the foul line.

McClure added 15 points, six rebounds, two assists and two steals. Carlson had 12 points and seven rebounds.

The Buffs held a 41-32 rebounding edge and outscored SAU 15-9 in points off turnovers.

Milligan hosts Johnson (Tenn.) on Tuesday evening at 7:30 p.m.