Cold shooting sinks Men’s Basketball against Montreat

MILLIGAN, Tenn. (February 14, 2024) – Cold shooting plagued the Milligan University men's basketball team as the Buffs dropped an 86-69 contest to Montreat on Smith-Harris Court in the Steve Lacy Fieldhouse on Wednesday evening.

Milligan falls to 11-12 on the season and 11-10 in Appalachian Athletic Conference (AAC) play. Montreat rises to 13-12, 10-11 AAC.

The Buffs missed their first 10 three-pointers and fell behind 15-8 after eight minutes of action. Montreat's lead grew to 26-15 with six minutes left in the half. Jay Hickman drained Milligan's first trey of the night to bring the margin to 26-21 with 4:35 remaining in the first.

Finn McClure's three cut the score to 28-26 under four minutes left in the period. The Buffs got within one on a pair of free throws by McCaskill Rivers but could not take the lead. Montreat carried a 35-32 edge into halftime.

The Cavs scored the first eight points of the second half to lead 43-32 less than two-and-a-half minutes into the period and led by at least eight points for the rest of the night. The Buffs worked back within eight (67-59) with just under five minutes left but Montreat scored the next six points to put the game out of reach. Milligan did not make a three-pointer in the second half while Montreat made six of 12 three-point attempts.

Milligan shot a season-low 34.4 percent from the field and finished two-of-20 from three. The outing mark Milligan's lowest-scoring outing in conference play this season.

Rivers had 21 points, 11 coming from the free throw line, and four rebounds. Jay Hickman had 10 points off the Milligan bench. The Buffs attempted 37 foul shots on the evening, the second-most in a single game this season, and made 25 shots from the charity stripe.

Milligan finished plus-nine (17-6) in the turnover margin but were outrebounded 46-30.

Milligan hosts Johnson (Tenn.) on Saturday at 4:00 p.m.