MILLIGAN, Tenn. - The Milligan University men's basketball program hosted the Appalachian Athletic Conference (AAC) foe of the Rams of Columbia International University (CIU) Saturday evening inside Steve Lacy Fieldhouse. The shorthanded Buffs built a lead in the first half but stumbled late in the game and fell by a final score of 72-70.

The Buffs scored the first points of the game on a Jake Benham jumper, but the Rams quickly responded with a three to take the lead. CIU continued to extend the lead and eventually led by seven points at the 14-minute mark. From there, both sides traded baskets with CIU maintaining their advantage, until a Te'Jon McDaniel-McCormick layup gave MU the lead 26-25 with five minutes and change remaining in the half. In the final five minutes, the Buffs extended their lead to 38-31 behind a Jake Benham three, McDaniel-McCormick layup, and Zack Turner three pointer. The Buffs went into the break converting on 13 of their 29 field goal attempts, while the Rams made 12 of their 27 attempts.

In the second half, CIU began to make their presence in the paint felt, as they scored 14 points in the paint and made two free throws in the first seven minutes to retake the lead 51-48. The Rams would slowly grow their lead over the next ten minutes, culminating in their largest of lead of the second half at eight with four minutes remaining. However, Milligan made a push late and the got the score to within a point with just under two minutes left behind free throws from Liviu Anton and McDaniel-McCormick as well as a layup from McDaniel-McCormick. After a missed free throw from the Rams with eleven seconds to play, the Buffs had two shot attempts but were unable to find the equalizing basket resulting in a 72-70 loss.

Without leading scorer Elijah Bredwood, McDaniel-McCormick led Milligan's offense and outpaced all scorers with 21 points on 6-of-12 shooting in the contest, while Anton was the only other Buff to reach double digits with 16 points. Benham led the team beyond the arc with two threes on seven attempts finishing with eight points.

Milligan had 14 assists in the loss, led by McDaniel-McCormick with four. Grant Hensley supplied three and both Sergej Cvetkovic and Jake Benham had two. Turner, Stefan Janevski, and Bo Koebbe rounded out the dimes with one each, respectively.

The Buffaloes rebounded as a unit, as seven different players each reeled in at least one board. Benham notched eight rebounds and both McDaniel-McCormick and Anton followed him with seven. Hensley grabbed three, while Turner, Janevski, Koebbe hauled in one.

The defense for Milligan consisted of six steals in the tilt. Janevski was responsible for three of those takeaways. The MU defense sent back two shots with McDaniel-McCormick and Hensley each rejecting an attempt.

With their final home AAC tilt of 2025 in the rearview mirror, Milligan's (3-6, 2-3 AAC) next matchup in conference play comes on Wednesday, Dec. 10 on the road in Pikeville, Ky. against the (RV) University of Pikeville Bears at 7:30 p.m.