MURFREESBORO, Tenn. – On Wednesday morning, the Milligan University men's basketball squad continued their 2025-26 campaign with an exhibition matchup against the NCAA Division I Middle Tennessee State University Blue Raiders in Murfreesboro, Tenn. Following a slow start from the Buffs, they put forth a strong effort to stay within reach of the hosts in the middle stages of the bout, but they ultimately fell by a score of 100-51.

Milligan struggled mightily over the contest's first seven minutes, as they failed to score a basket until 12:58 remained on the clock. Over that course of time, MTSU had built a 22-0 lead. The Buffaloes scored the next eight points on a pair of threes by Liviu Anton and Sergej Cvetkovic, as well as two free throws made by Cvetkovic. From there, the Blue Raiders extended their lead back to as many as 25 points at 43-18 with 2:09 to go, but the Buffs worked it back down to 22 at the break, 48-26, matching the 22-0 deficit that they faced in the early stages.

Half number two started nicely for the Buffs, as Jake Benham knocked down his first three-pointer of the game and then went to the free-throw line on the next possession, where he made 1-of-2 to score the first four points of the period. Middle Tennessee State would build a 21-7 run over the next 6:58 of gameplay to take a commanding 69-37 advantage. From there, MTSU continued to add, opening things up to a 44-point lead at 86-42 with 8:49 left. Over the remainder of the tilt, MTSU extended their lead and the Buffaloes ended up falling 100-51.

Anton ended up as the team's leader in scoring with 12 points on a 4-of-7 day from the field. He also sunk his only three-point shot and went 3-of-4 from the charity stripe. Elijah Bredwood was also in double digits with 11 points on a tough 4-of-20 day shooting the rock. Benham (9), Ahmari Hicks (7) and Te'Jon McDaniel-McCormick (6) went a combined 9-of-26 from the field.

Zack Turner led the way with two assists for the team, as Hicks, McDaniel-McCormick, Luka Horvatic, Cvetkovic and Jazper Johnson dished out the other five.

Milligan trailed just 46-40 on the backboards, with McDaniel-McCormick leading the team with seven of them. Hicks supplied six and both Bredwood and Anton nabbed four. Benham and Horvatic grabbed a trio each, and the other six boards were split evenly by Zivko Damjanovic, Turner and Cvetkovic.

A total of five steals were recorded by the Buffs in the loss, as Turner notched three of them and McDaniel-McCormick was responsible for the other two.

Now, the Buffaloes look ahead to their first home battle of the season on Wednesday, Nov.12 at 7:30 p.m., when they host the Life University (Ga.) Running Eagles inside Steve Lacy Fieldhouse. Milligan will be looking to avenge an 83-62 loss to Life in their season opener.