Early Offensive Funk Sinks Milligan Men's Basketball in Loss to Life

KINGSPORT, Tenn. – On Saturday, the Milligan University men's basketball team was back in action at THE SHOW, hosted by Visit Kingsport. This time around, the Buffaloes would battle the Life University (Ga.) Running Eagles, looking to snap their three-game winless streak. After a frustrating opening half, the Buffs would play from behind for the remainder of the contest and could not make up enough ground, falling 80-65.

To begin the battle, Milligan hopped in front by a 13-8 margin after the first five minutes. Then, Life concocted a 17-0 run over the course of 5:30 to lead 25-13 with 9:26 to go in the period. From that point forward, the teams traded buckets, as the score ended up at 39-29 in favor of the Running Eagles at the intermission. In the first half, Life managed to shoot the orange at greater than 50%, drilling 17-of-32 from the field. The Buffs hit less than 40% of their shots for the third straight half knocking down 11-of-31 in the period.

It was simply too large a deficit for the Buffaloes to make up in the second half with the shooting numbers that they managed in comparison to Life. Milligan shot 14-of-32 (43.8%) in the half, while the Eagles continued to shoot at a respectable 14-of-29 (48.3%) clip in the latter period, increasing the margin to as many as 16 points at 72-56 with 3:20 left to be played. In the end, the Buffaloes suffered their fourth loss in a row by a tally of 80-65.

Sam Gold had his second straight encouraging game offensively, notching 16 points on a 6-of-13 conversion rate, including three makes from three-point land. Luke Lentz scored 10 points for Milligan in seven minutes off the bench, pouring in 4-of-6 from the field and 2-of-4 from deep. McCaskill Rivers was the third, and final, scorer to put up double-digits with 10 points. He shot just 4-of-13 in the contest and made one three.

Finn McClure passed out six assists for the second straight night, while Gold and Handje Tamba also added two dimes, apiece.

Tamba put up a 10 spot in the rebounding category, pulling in seven on the defensive end and three offensively. Gold would provide six for the squad, while Lincoln Thomae hauled in five. McClure snatched three, and Elijah Bredwood, Grant Hensley and Flynn Carlson each grabbed a pair.

Milligan had active hands defensively, compiling eight steals and seven blocks in the battle. Gold had the most standout performance with four blocked shots and two takeaways. McClure had a trio of steals, while Jayme Peay rejected two shots and Tamba swiped one and stuffed one. Lentz and Rivers also had single steals in the loss.

Following a pair of neutral site losses at THE SHOW, the Buffaloes will be glad to see a pair of home tilts on their schedule for this week, as they will first host the Bulldogs of Union Commonwealth University (Ky.) on Wednesday, Dec. 4 at 7:30 p.m.