Men’s Basketball edged at Johnson

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (January 10, 2024) – The Milligan University men's basketball team was edged 91-85 at Johnson (Tenn.) on Wednesday evening.

In a matchup of the fourth- and fifth-place teams in the Appalachian Athletic Conference (AAC), the game went down to the final minute. Milligan falls to 7-7 on the season and 7-5 in AAC action. Johnson picks up its eighth-straight league win to move to 9-5, 8-3 AAC.

Milligan used a 6-0 spurt to take a 56-48 lead five minutes into the second half but a 10-2 Royals response tied the game at 58 with 13 minutes left in regulation.

Johnson rallied to take a 74-66 lead with seven minutes to play after a 9-2 run. The Buffs worked the score back to a single possession (83-80) with a McCaskill Rivers basket with 2:33 remaining. After a pair of Johnson foul shots, Sam Gold buried a trey to stay within striking distance at 85-83 with two minutes left.

The Buffs got a defensive stop with a tie-up and the possession arrow pointing towards Milligan. Down two, Milligan drew a foul but missed the front end of a one-and-one. Johnson went ahead 87-83 on a dunk with just over a minute to go. After Johnson missed a free throw, Follie Bogan went the length of the floor to trim the score to 87-85 with 34 seconds left.

With Johnson leading 89-85, Gold was whistled for basket interference while attempting to tip-in a miss in the final 15 seconds. Johnson converted the next two free throws to seal the win.

The Royals used a 16-5 run to build an 11-point lead (26-15) with 10:40 left in the first half. Milligan responded with a 13-2 run and took a 31-30 lead on a Lincoln Thomae layup with six minutes to play in the half.

The teams went back-and-forth over the next several minutes as the game was tied at 36 with 3:24 left in the first half. The Buffs scored the next seven points and carried a 43-39 lead into halftime.

Bogan filled the stat sheet with 31 points, 11 rebounds and nine assists, narrowly missing out on the program's first triple-double since Milligan Hall of Famer Dino Allen in 1990. Riveres had 17 points and six rebounds.

Finn McClure drained three three-pointers on his way to 14 points and five assists. Gold had nine points, eight rebounds and three blocks.

The Buffs tallied 20 assists for the third time this season and used 11 offensive rebounds to rack up 20 second chance points.

Milligan hosts Pikeville on Saturday at 4:00 p.m.