Milligan College, Tenn. (Feb. 13, 2010) --- The Milligan College men's basketball team celebrated senior night in style with a 97-85 victory over AAC newcomer Reinhardt College Saturday night in Steve Lacy Fieldhouse.
In the first half, the trio of Buff seniors started for Milligan as they spurred the Buffs to an early lead over the Eagles. Torian Sitton (Hendersonville, N.C.) and senior Kyle Donahue (Greeneville, Tenn.) helped push the Buffs out to a 10 point lead with 10 minutes in the half with a run that was started when Justin Sylvester (Kingsport, Tenn.) dished the ball to Sitton for a slam after a steal.
Milligan kept adding to their lead with big time plays as senior Emmanuel Colon (Salinas, Puerto Rico) pushed the Buff lead to 14 with his 3-pointer with 5:48 remaining in the period. The Buffs maintained their lead as they went into the locker room leading the Eagles 56-41.
In the half, Sitton led the way with 17 points and four assists. Cordero Seymour (Inagua, Bahamas) had 11 points and seven rebounds. As a team, Milligan was 22-of-34 (65%) from the field and 4-of-11 (36%) from the arc, while Reinhardt was 10-of-25 (40%) from the field and 3-of-8 (38%) from the free throw line.
Buff senior Rex Carpenter (Gray, Tenn.) opened the scoring for the second half with his field goal in the opening minute. In the first ten minutes of the half, the Eagles cut the lead into the single digits, but could not pull any closer than eight points. Milligan kept the pressure on the Eagles as they pushed back out to a double-digit lead.
The Buffs denied the Eagles a run in the closing minutes as they were too much for the Eagles. Seymour put an exclamation point on the victory with his breakaway slam after getting a loose ball with 1:39 to put Milligan up 91-81. From there, Reinhardt was forced to foul, and the Buffs sealed the win from the free throw line.
“I am proud of the way we played tonight,” Head Coach Bill Robinson said. “It was a break out game for us. We've played well in stretches, but we had not been able to put together a full 40 minutes. We have been waiting to have one of these games where we break out and play a full 40 minutes. We finally did it tonight.
Seymour led the way with 24 points, 11 rebounds and three assists, while Sitton had 17 points, five rebounds and five assists. The senior Donahue had 15 points and five assists, while the former Dobyns-Bennett star Sylvester had 13 points. Seniors Colon and Carpenter ended the night with five and three points respectively.
“The seniors made a good run to start the first half,” Robinson said. “They played good minutes tonight, and all three of them contributed. It is just a special night for all of us.”
As a team, the Buffs were 34-of-60 (57%) from the field and 6-of-17 (35%) from behind the arc while Reinhardt was 24-of-52 (46%) from the field and 9-of-20 (45%) from behind the 3-point line.
With the win, Milligan improves to 5-9 in AAC play, and 10-17 overall while the Eagles fall to 8-5 in AAC play and 15-9 overall.
The Buffs return to action on Monday evening when they host former AAC foe and now NCAA Div-II King College at Steve Lacy Fieldhouse. The Tornado took the earlier meeting this season 84-64 on the King campus in Bristol. Tipoff is set for 7:30 p.m.
