MILLIGAN COLLEGE, Tenn. (Nov. 28, 2018) â€" Aaron Levarity stuffed the stat sheet and the Milligan College men's basketball team got back in the win column with a 90-82 victory over Appalachian Athletic Conference foe Truett McConnell Wednesday night inside Steve Lacy Fieldhouse.
 
Milligan (6-3, 3-2 AAC) snapped their two game losing streak with the win over the Bears (4-3, 2-3 AAC) and moved back above .500 in conference play.
 
MILLIGAN EXTENDS LEAD LATE
With 9:32 remaining in the second half the Milligan lead was trimmed to one at 68-67 after a made three by the Bears' Christian Davis. But, that would be the closest Truett would get throughout the remainder of the contest as Milligan followed with a 5-0 run capped off by an and-1 from Tyler Nichols to extend the lead to six with 8:12 remaining.
 
Milligan held steady with the lead over the next three minutes, but the Bears would not go away as a three by Jacob Booke put Truett within five with 3:40 remaining. Tyler Faulkenberry would answer with a three of his own on the ensuing possession to ice the game.
 
Overall, it was a tight battle throughout as there were 16 lead changes and eight ties over the course of the 40 minutes of action.
 
After neither team could pull away for the majority of the first half, Milligan was finally able to create some separation between them and the Bears over the course of the final minutes. With the score tied at 33 all with 2:31 remaining in the half, Milligan scored 10 of the final 15 points to carry a five point lead into the break.
 
BY THE NUMBERS
The 3-point line was a huge factor for the Buffs success as Milligan shot a season high 57.9 percent from deep after entering the game with a season average of 25.9 percent. Jacob Cawood and Faulkenberry each knocked in three triples to lead Milligan from behind the arc.
 
Cawood ended up as the leading scorer for the Buffs on the night as he poured in a season high 17 points on 7-of-10 shooting and hauled in six rebounds. The junior came into the contest only averaging nine points per game on the season.
 
Levarity followed with 16 points, 10 rebounds and five assists for his seventh double-double of the season. The senior has now scored in double figures in every contest this season and leads the AAC in points per game at 19.56.
 
Three other Buffs wound up in double figures on the night as juniors Tyler Nichols and Faulkenberry, and sophomore Bo Pless accounted for 16, 12 and 12 respectively.

As a team, Milligan scored well above their season average of 78.5 points per game thanks to some hot shooting as the Buffs finished 34-of-54 from the field. One area Milligan did struggle in for the game was the free throw line and defensive boards. The Buffs struggled from the line finishing 11-of-21 for the game, 10 for 19 in the second half, and allowed Truett to haul in 19 offensive boards on the night.
 
The Bears, who have now lost three of their last four, were led by Christian Davis with 17 points followed by Filipe Goncalves with 16. Truett also finished the game with five players in double figures.
 
UP NEXT
Milligan will hit the road for their next contest as they will face off against AAC foe Allen University Saturday, Dec. 1, at 4 p.m. The Buffs return home Wednesday, Dec. 5, as they host Montreat in an AAC battle. Tip-off is set for directly after the women's game at approximately 7:30 p.m.