Despite outscoring Appalachian Athletic Conference foe Montreat College in the second half, the Milligan College men’s basketball team could not overcome a rough opening period as they fell 94-77 inside McAlister Gym Thursday night.
The loss dropped the Buffaloes to 16-7 overall and 11-6 in AAC play, while the Cavaliers (17-4, 14-3 AAC) remained atop the AAC standings with the victory.
Montreat opened up the contest on a 16-4 run and never looked back as they led wire-to-wire on the night. The Buffs trailed by as much as 26 points in the first half and found themselves trailing 48-22 at the halftime break.
For the majority of the second half, the Cavalier lead remained in the 20’s, but the Buffs would not go quietly as Milligan put together a 9-3 run to get within 12 points at the 3:46 mark. Milligan eventually got within 11 points of the Montreat lead, but that would be the closest they would get as the Cavaliers responded with a 12-0 run.
BY THE NUMBERS
Aaron Levarity led the Buffs with 20 points on 8-of-14 shooting and hauled in 15 rebounds for his 18th double-double of the season. Tyler Nichols and Mike Featherston joined Levarity in double figures with 18 and 10 points respectively. Nichols also compiled seven rebounds and three assists on the evening.
Tyler Faulkenberry, Trevor Hensley, Desean Green and Jacob Cawood rounded out the offense for Milligan with eight, seven, seven and six points respectively.
It was a rough shooting night for Milligan as they shot 25-of-68 from the field and 5-of-24 from 3-point range.
Montreat was led by Austin Butler’s 33 points and Alonzo Mobley’s 21 points and seven rebounds. Jeron Hemphill was the only other Cavalier in double figures with 17 points, while hauling in 14 rebounds.
UP NEXT
The Buffs return to Steve Lacy Fieldhouse this Saturday for an AAC matchup against Allen University with tip-off set for approximately 4 p.m. Milligan only has three remaining home contests this season.
Story and photo courtesy of Milligan Athletics and Robert Kell.
