Milligan Men's Basketball Returns to Form with Second-Half Outburst at Bluefield

BLUEFIELD, Va. – On Monday night, the Milligan University men's basketball team looked to bounce back from a tough road loss at CIU on Saturday with a triumph at the Bluefield University Rams. A furious second half of scoring for the Buffaloes made that goal possible, as they pulled away late in a 90-66 win. 

The first half was an interesting one that saw Milligan earn their largest advantage of the period with 8:58 to play at 24-17. Bluefield then went on a 9-0 run to take a 26-24 lead with 6:50 to go. The rest of the period was closely fought, but the Buffs would head to the break with a 39-37 lead with a go-ahead three-point shot with 10 seconds left. It was not a bad first half shooting the rock for Milligan, as they sent home 15-of-31 from the floor for a 48.4% clip. Bluefield nearly matched their production, going 14-of-30 in the half for a 46.7% conversion rate.  

In the second half, things changed drastically. After playing to a tight 45-45 tie after the first five-and-a-half minutes, Milligan went on an 8-0 run, in the next minute-and-a-half. They never looked back, finishing the game on a 45-21 heater—including the 8-0 run—to win 90-66. Overall, the Buffs had a stellar second period, draining 19-of-35 (54.3%) from the field. That included a 9-of-9 half from the charity stripe. Bluefield limped to a 12-of-30 (40%) mark with nine costly turnovers. 

McCaskill Rivers had a top-tier scoring performance, pouring in 25 points on an 8-of-14 shooting line. His 8-of-8 mark at the free-throw line was clutch for the team, as well. Sam Gold's 16 points were the second-highest total by a Milligan scorer, as he went 7-of-12 shooting. Luke Lentz provided a hot hand off the bench with a season-high 15 points on a 6-of-11 mark with a trio of long-range connections. Elijah Bredwood scored 10 points off the bench with a 4-of-7 clip from the field and a 2-of-2 mark from deep. 

Five different Buffaloes tied for the team lead in assists, with three each. Finn McClure, Gold, Rivers, Bredwood and Flynn Carlson were responsible for those 15 combined dimes. Jayme Peay and Handje Tamba split the other four evenly with two apiece. 

Tamba paced the squad with 12 rebounds in the win. Both Rivers and Carlson added six, while McClure and Peay tallied five each. Gold notched four, with Bredwood grabbing two and Piripi Korent hauling in the final backboard. 

The Buffs had a field day on defense, stealing the ball on 12 occasions and blocking five shots. Tamba had a strong two steals and three blocks to lead the way, while a quartet of players (Peay, Bredwood, Lentz, Carlson) had two steals each. Gold had a pair of rejections, as McClure and Rivers added single thefts. 

Back in the win column, the Buffs continue on the road with a battle in Barbourville, Ky. against the Union Commonwealth University Bulldogs. The opening tip is scheduled for 4 p.m. on Saturday, Jan. 25.