Buffs Men's Basketball Scorches on Offense in Second Half of Road Victory at Bryan

DAYTON, Tenn. – On Wednesday night in Dayton, Tenn., the Milligan university men's basketball team participated in a contest that had two very opposite halves of play for the Buffaloes. After struggling mightily in the opening half, trailing by eight at half, the Buffs caught fire in the latter half, earning a crucial Appalachian Athletic Conference (AAC) win in a hostile environment on the road.

Half number one of the tilt included Milligan shooting the orange at just 13-of-32 (40.6%). That, coupled with Bryan's 14 made field goals and nine made free throws, put them in an eight-point hole after the opening 20 minutes of play. Over the course of that period, Milligan never led after the 13:44 mark in the stanza. In fact, Bryan stretched their advantage to as many as 10 points on two occasions at 36-26 and 40-30, before heading to the break with a 40-32 lead over the Buffaloes.

The second half began with a 16-2 run by Milligan over the first 5:28 played. Milligan would continue extending their lead, as it swelled to a 16-point margin with 7:52 left. The Lions battled back to eight-point deficits on multiple occasions, but it was too little too late, as the Buffs stormed out of town with an 84-71 triumph. Milligan rode a 60.9% output on offense in the second stanza, scoring on 14-of-23 from the floor. They also shot 26 free throws in the second half, alone, knocking down 22 of them for a 84.6% clip. Bryan, on the other hand, was a dismal 8-of-31 (25.8%) from the field, as the result was never in doubt in the latter period.

A pair of Buffaloes scored more than 20 points, as McCaskill Rivers (21 PTS, 8-of-16 FG, 5-of-5 FT) and Jayme Peay (21 PTS, 8-of-9 FG, 4-of-4 FT) led the way for Milligan. Elijah Bredwood scored 13 points on 3-of-8 shooting and 7-of-9 from the free-throw line. Sam Gold poured in 12 points on a 4-of-7 day from the floor and a 3-of-4 free-throw mark.

Rivers also had five assists, which was the most on the squad in the win. Bredwood and Handje Tamba dished out two dimes apiece, with the last three coming via Finn McClure, Luke Lentz and Peay.

A three-headed rebounding monster, consisting of Peay, Rivers and Tamba, combined evenly for 27 backboards with nine each. Three others had three boards apiece, as McClure, Gold and Bredwood were responsible for those nine rebounds. Lentz and Flynn Carlson brought in the other two.

Lentz had a team-best two steals in the victory, while Tamba had a pair of rejections. Bredwood had the only other block of the game for Milligan, while Gold, Peay, Rivers and Carlson snatched the other four thefts.

It is the fifth straight win for the Buffaloes, as they now have leapt into the No. 4 spot in the AAC standings. They also sit just 1.5 games out of first place. Next up for MU is a non-conference affair on Saturday, Feb. 8 against Carolina University (N.C.), as they will have a tune-up contest prior to the last three conference tilts of the season.