JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. (Dec. 10, 2015) â€" Newcomers Will Buckner and David Casaday combined for nine of the Milligan College men's basketball team's first 11 points as the Buffaloes frustrated the Buccaneers through the first five-plus minutes, but it was poor shooting and early turnovers that ultimately led to the defeat of the Buffs, a 98-47 exhibition decision to East Tennessee State University Thursday night at Freedom Hall.
 
Milligan, which is currently 8-3 in the regular season and tied for second in the Appalachian Athletic Conference at 4-1, was led by double-figure scoring efforts from seniors Kurt Brooks and Julian Bailey. Brooks scored 11 while Bailey had 10, and Milos Petrovic added nine points, six rebounds, four blocks and two steals. Petrovic was also one of three Buffs with two steals as he was joined by Bailey and James Songster.
 
Meanwhile ETSU, an NCAA Division I program, raised its record back to .500 at 4-4 and snapped a three-game losing streak. In a series that dates all the way back to 1921, ETSU now leads Milligan 38-24 all-time and has won the last six games against the Buffs.
 
It was sloppy play from both squads that kept the game close early as both teams had five turnovers while ETSU started 1-8 from the field and Milligan was 1-5 through the first 5:10.
 
After Brooks opened the scoring for Milligan with a floater from the middle of the lane, the game remained tied at 2-2 for nearly two and a half minutes before a 14-2 Buccaneer run starting over five minutes into the contest made it 16-4 with 11:03 left in the half. The Buccaneer run started with a 7-0 spurt featuring back-to-back threes from Ge'Lawn Guyn that was halted by a thundering dunk from Buckner to make it 9-4.
 
After the second media timeout, the Buffs were still struggling to hit shots (2-11, 18.2 percent), while ETSU was beginning to find its rhythm and raised it shooting percentage to 33.3 percent at that point.
 
After a layup by Casaday and an and-one by Buckner made the score 20-9, ETSU went on a 14-2 run to spread its lead to 23 and take control. A 3-pointer by Jacob Cawood then got it back to a 20-point game at 36-16 before the Bucs took their largest lead of the half, a 28-point advantage (44-16) after scoring eight straight points.
 
Overall in the first half, Milligan was victimized by the 3-point shot as ETSU was 41.7 percent (5-12) from behind the arc while the Buffs were at 22.2 percent (2-9).
 
In the second half, the Buffs tried to get back into it as a 7-2 run highlighted by five points from Brooks brought Milligan to within a 25-point margin at 57-32 with 16:31 on the clock. However, that was the closest the game would be for the rest of the way as ETSU scored 11 straight points to cap a 14-2 run with just over 10 minutes left, then outscored Milligan 27-11 in the final 10 minutes.
 
The Bucs put five players in double-digit scoring and had two double-doubles as Abednego Lufile has 11 points and 11 boards, Isaac Banks had 11 points and 10 rebounds, and Guyn led both teams with 18 points.
 
Milligan will continue regular-season action on Saturday, Dec. 12, as the Buffs travel to Bluefield, Virginia, to battle Bluefield College at 4 p.m. Milligan then returns to action in 2016 by hosting No. 7 Union College at Steve Lacy Fieldhouse on Saturday, Jan. 2, also at 4 p.m.