Men’s Basketball clinches top-four AAC finish with win over St. Andrews

MILLIGAN, Tenn. (February 24, 2024) – The Milligan University men's basketball team clinched a top-four Appalachian Athletic Conference (AAC) finish with a 109-78 victory over St. Andrews in the Buffs' regular season finale on Smith-Harris Court in the Steve Lacy Fieldhouse on Saturday afternoon.

Milligan, who was picked to finish eighth in the AAC Preseason Poll, concludes the regular season with a 14-12 record and a 14-10 conference mark. With Johnson falling at CIU, Milligan moved into a tie for fourth with the Royals. Milligan and Johnson split during the regular season and the next tiebreaker is best league win. Milligan defeated Union in November while Johnson has a victory over Pikeville. If Union clinches the regular season title this evening, the Buffs take the fourth seed in the AAC Tournament via tiebreaker. St. Andrews closes its season with a 5-21 record and 3-21 AAC mark.

The Buffs led wire-to-wire as the Knights were within one early at 5-4 and 8-7. Jay Hickman drained threes each for the next basket both times the margin was a single point early. Sam Gold scored five-straight points off the bench to push Milligan's lead to 18-8 eight minutes into play.

St. Andrews narrowed the score to 22-19 just under eight minutes left in the half. The Buffs scored the next seven points with Finn McClure draining a three to begin the run. McClure made two more treys and Follie Bogan added a triple of his own to push Milligan's lead to 42-29 with four minutes remaining in regulation.

The Buffs carried a 47-35 lead into the halftime break. The Buffs shot 60.5 percent from the field in the second half and drained eight threes on their way to 62 points over the final 20 minutes. Milligan went over 100 points for the fifth time this season.

The Buffs a season-high 16 threes at 45.7 percent. McClure drained eight threes, the third-most by a Milligan player in a single game, on his way to a career-high 28 points and six assists. Hickman made four threes off the bench and finished with 16 points. Bogan recorded 17 points, nine rebounds and five assists.

Jaz Johnson had 14 points and eight rebounds. McCaskill Rivers finished with 11 points and nine rebounds.

Milligan won the rebounding battle 50-43, had 26 assists on 40 made baskets and racked up 23 fastbreak points.

The Buffs take on Johnson in the AAC Tournament quarterfinals next Thursday at the MeadowView Marriott in Kingsport at 8:30 a.m.