Milligan Men's Basketball Triumphs in Slugfest with Union Commonwealth

MILLIGAN, Tenn. – The Milligan University men's basketball team returned to Appalachian Athletic Conference (AAC) play on Wednesday night, playing host to the Union Commonwealth University Bulldogs inside Steve Lacy Fieldhouse. It was a game in which neither side played crisply, with a combined 40 turnovers in the contest, but the Buffaloes did enough to find a way to overcome a 14-point halftime deficit to win the bout in tight fashion, 73-69.

It was an opening half that the Buffs would like to forget, as they turned the orange over 16 times across the first 20 minutes. Additionally, they shot just 11-of-27 from the field in the period, while Union Commonwealth converted at 17-of-35. After falling down 30-15 with 8:02 to be played in the first half, Milligan was able to get the lead down to just six points with 2:30 to go. Unfortunately, the Bulldogs then went on another run and extended their 39-33 advantage to 47-33 at the break, holding the Buffaloes scoreless in the last 2:30 of the frame.

The second half began in a positive way for MU, as Union struggled to piece their offense together, allowing an 18-4 run to the Buffs across the first 8:31 of the half. The two squads then jousted within two points of each other over the next 6:47, before Milligan began to separate with connections at the charity stripe. They led 63-59 with 3:44 to be played. Union would not go away quietly, however, as they stormed back to take a 67-66 lead with 1:15 to go. A Sam Gold three-point jumper with 0:49 to go was the eventual game-sealing shot, as the Bulldogs missed the tying layup attempt and were forced to foul to extend the game. Milligan sunk their free throws to win 73-69 in the end. Neither side shot particularly well in the half, but the Buffaloes' 13-of-34 mark was far superior to the 8-of-28 showing by UCU.

McCaskill Rivers drained nine of his 19 shots in the victory and poured in 25 points with two made three-pointers and five converted free throws. Handje Tamba ended up with 14 points, including a perfect 6-of-6 clip at the free-throw line, with all six coming in the latter stages of the second half. Finn McClure's 12-point performance came via a 4-of-5 shooting night, with a single long ball and a 3-of-3 free-throw mark.

McClure had seven assists to lead the team, with Tamba and Lincoln Thomae adding three each. Gold and Rivers also had multiple assists, with two, apiece.

Tamba achieved a double-double in the contest with 12 backboards on top of his 14 points. He evenly split between six offensive and six defensive boards. McClure and Gold had six rebounds each, while Jayme Peay added five off the bench.

Beyond his scoring and rebounding, Tamba supplied four blocked shots and two steals, defensively. Gold had a pair of each, while McClure and Luke Lentz both had three steals. Rivers had a single block and a single steal, with Thomae providing the remaining takeaway in the box score.

Milligan needed a win after losing four straight contests, and they earned a huge one against a quality AAC opponent on Wednesday evening, pushing their overall record to 7-6, 3-3 AAC for the season. They now look ahead to Saturday, Dec. 7, when they face off with the Bryan College Lions inside Steve Lacy Fieldhouse at 2 p.m.