Buffs Men's Basketball Loses Defensive Battle against No. 19 Huntington

HUNTINGTON, Ind. - On Saturday, The Milligan men's basketball team was back in action in Huntington, Ind. to play their second game in the Ness Bros. Hall of Fame Classic against the hosts, No. 19-ranked Huntington.

A defensive battle from the start, Milligan worked their way to a 28-25 lead after the opening 20 minutes, shooting 12-of-29 in the half. On the other side, the Foresters limped to an 8-of-25 output, though they made six more free throws than the Buffaloes.

In the second half, it was a major struggle for Milligan, as they hit only seven of their 31 shot attempts, pushing their game percentage down to 31.7% at 19-of-60 overall. Additionally, they scored just 22 points in the half. Huntington did not do much better, but their 34.5% clip in the second half put them in a good enough position to earn the 56-50 win over the Buffs.  

McCaskill Rivers led the way for the Buffs with 13 points in 30 minutes of action. Elijah Bredwood also had 12 points in the contest, and was the lone Buffalo to shoot 50% in the contest, at 5-of-10. Handje Tamba scored 7 points for Milligan, as well, on just four shots.

Piripi Korent had a pair of assists, and Tamba and Bredwood added the remaining two.

Tamba brought down 10 rebounds in the contest to lead the sqaud in that category. Jayme Peay's eight boards and Finn McClure's six accounted for the other two performances of more than five backboards. Lincoln Thomae, Rivers and Korent each had four rebounds, as well.

McClure, Peay, Bredwood and Luke Lentz each tallied single steals in the game, and Milligan had seven blocks in the loss. Peay was atop the list in that regard with three, while Rivers added two, and Tamba and Sam Gold rejected one each.

Milligan, now 3-1, will travel to Winston-Salem, N.C. for a matchup against Carolina University on Tuesday, Nov. 5. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m.