MILLIGAN, Tenn. - The Milligan University men's basketball program was on the road Wednesday night as they traveled to Pikeville, Ky. for an Appalachian Athletic Conference (AAC) conference matchup against the (RV) Bears of Pikeville University. After falling behind in the first half, the Buffs were unable to overcome the deficit in the second and eventually lost by a final score of 71-58.

The Buffs scored the first points of the game on a layup from Liviu Anton, but the Bears quickly responded with a layup of their own to knot the score at two. From there, both sides traded baskets with Pikeville gaining a slight two-point advantage at 19-17 with eleven minutes to play in the half. In the final eleven minutes of play, the Buffs tacked on only eight more points behind a three from Ahmari Hicks, a layup and free throw from Sergej Cvetkovic, and a layup from Te'Jon McDaniel-McCormick. The Bears capitalized on the Buffs offensive struggles to close out the first half and built a 16 point lead at 41-25 heading into the break. In the first half MU finished 10-of-30 (33.3%) from the field, while UPIKE went 15-of-32 (46.9%). The Bears got to the charity stripe more often with nine free throw attempts and converted on eight of them, while the Buffs managed to get the line three times and converted on two.  

Pikeville swiftly extended their lead to 20 points four minutes into the second half. Milligan's first made field goal in the second half came courtesy of Jake Benham who knocked down a triple five minutes into the half. Following the Benham three, McDaniel-McCormick grabbed a rebound and went coast to coast for layup to bring the Buffs within 15 points with just under 15 minutes remaining. However, the Buffs were unable to build on the momentum and make a run, as over the next ten minutes the Bears began to slowly grow their lead, culminating in their largest of lead of the game of 26 with seven minutes remaining. Milligan made a push late behind a pair of threes by Benham, but their late efforts fell short as they fell by 13, 71-58.

Benham led Milligan's offense with 15 points on 5-of-9 shooting and 4-of-8 from beyond the arc, while Anton was the only other Buff to reach double digits with 14 points. McDaniel-McCormick converted on three of his nine attempts to finish with seven points 

Milligan had only six assists in the loss, led by Benham and Stefan Janevski with two, while Elijah Bredwood and McDaniel-McCormick supplied one apiece.  

The Buffaloes rebounded as a unit, as ten different players each reeled in at least one board. McDaniel-McCormick notched seven rebounds and Anton followed him with six. Benham and Cvetkovic each hauled in five boards, while Bredwood, Janevski, and Bo Koebbe grabbed three. Zivko Damjanovic grabbed two, and Zack Turner and Hicks each reeled in one to account for the 36 total rebounds for the Buffs in the contest.

Milligan's (3-7, 2-4 AAC) next matchup in conference play comes on Saturday, Dec. 13 on the road in Montreat, N.C. against Montreat at 4 p.m. Following that contest Milligan will take a break from AAC action with their next AAC matchup not scheduled until Jan. 7.