MILLIGAN, Tenn. - The Milligan University men's basketball team opened Appalachian Athletic Conference (AAC) play Wednesday night at home against the Bluefield University Rams. Milligan held a slight advantage throughout the game and exploded late in the second half to start conference play with 88-70 victory.  
 

The Rams scored the first bucket of the game on a layup, but Elijah Bredwood responded with a layup for the Buffs to tie the score at two. Then both sides traded baskets, until a layup from the Rams gave them a three-point lead at the ten-minute mark. The Buffs responded with four straight points from Zivko Damjanovich to gain their first lead of the game at 21-20. A layup from Bredwood and a three-point basket from Sergej Cvetkovic quickly extended the Buffs lead to five with just over five minutes remaining in the half. However, the Rams would not go away and tied the score at 29 with four minutes to play in the half. In the final four minutes of the half, the Buffs went on a 14-3 run behind three pointers from Jake Benham and Ahmari Hicks, as well as two layups from Te'Jon McDaniel McCormick. The run gave Milligan the lead 43-32 going into halftime.  

After the break, the Rams continued to hang in the game and got the Buffs lead down to seven with 15 minutes left in the game. The Buffs worked to put Bluefield away, and with 10 minutes left to play an offensive rebound followed by a putback layup from Zack Turner gave Milligan the momentum and a 13-point lead, 62-49. From there the Buffs continued to extend their lead, until Bredwood went coast to coast for a breakaway slam to put the game away, extending Milligan's lead to 18 with just over five minutes to play. Down the stretch, the Buffs did not the Rams back into the game and left Steve Lacy Fieldhouse with an 88-70 win.  

Bredwood led all scorers in the contest with 24 points on 9-of-19 shooting and 2-of-9 beyond the arc. McDaniel-McCormick and Liviu Anton each finished with 15 points, and Hicks led the team in made threes with three to finish with 14 points. Overall, the Buffs shot 34-of-65 (52.3.5%) and 9-of-26 (34.6%) from three.  

Milligan assisted on 16 buckets, with McDaniel-McCormick distributing a team high of six.  Bredwood dished out three and Benham and Cvetkovic each had two, while Damjanovic, Turner, and Hicks had one assist, respectively.    

McDaniel-McCormick dominated the glass hauling in 14 boards to lead the team and notch a double-double. The next-highest total was six by Bredwood, followed by Benham with five and Cvetkovic with four. Milligan finished with 43 total rebounds, with eight of them being offensive.   

The squad totaled seven steals, as McDaniel-McCormick took the ball away four times in the bout to lead the way. Anton had two thefts and Turner had one.  

Milligan is back at home for their next contest taking place on Saturday, as they face another AAC opponent Union Commonwealth (ky.). Tip-off is scheduled for 4 p.m.