MILLIGAN COLLEGE, Tenn. (Jan. 10, 2015) – It took until the midway point of the second half for the Milligan College men’s basketball team to get going, but once the Buffaloes did, they had little trouble putting away Bluefield College in their first Appalachian Athletic Conference win of the new year. Milligan took it by a score of 67-49.
The Buffaloes improved to 11-5 (6-2 AAC) and now rank only half a game behind AAC frontrunner Union College (11-4, 6-1 AAC). A loss for the Bulldogs, who play Bryan College today at 6 p.m., would put Milligan back on top as the outright conference leader.
Milligan finished the game on a 22-8 run, highlighted by a trio of 3-pointers from Mickey Woods and Mike Woods Jr. and an old-fashioned 3-point play from Morgan McLeod. Three of those four makes came at pivotal points in the closing minutes, answering a Bluefield (6-8, 3-6 AAC) made basket at the other end to help keep the streaky Rams out of striking distance.
Milligan never trailed and only once saw the lead drop to one possession outside of the first six minutes. The closest Bluefield was to a lead after the opening minutes was immediately prior to the final Milligan run when the Rams used a 16-6 run to cut their deficit to four, 45-41, at the 10-minute mark of the second half.
Coming out of a timeout, Woods Jr. connected on the second of his three second-half triples to put the Buffs up by seven, and from there the Buffaloes never had any trouble.
Woods Jr. was one of three Buffaloes to reach double figures in scoring with 11 points. McLeod and Bluefield’s Ederson Exume were the game’s high scorers with 15 apiece. McLeod added seven rebounds to match Kurt Brooks who also had seven assists.
Woods, who was battling illness over the last several days, scored seven points in 22 minutes. The senior also had five rebounds and three assists.
Milligan hits the road for nearby Montreat College (5-7, 4-4 AAC) on Wednesday, Jan. 14 before returning home next Saturday, Jan. 17 against Point University. Each date will feature a doubleheader with the women, beginning at 5:30 p.m. and 2 p.m., respectively. During halftime of the next men’s home game, former Head Coach and Hall of Famer Phil Worrell will be recognized along with several other former players and Hall of Famers from the 1970s.
