SPARTANBURG, S.C. — On Wednesday night, the Milligan University men's basketball returned to the hardwood for an Appalachian Athletic Conference (AAC) bout against the newest member of the conference, the Spartanburg Methodist College (S.C) Pioneers. Following a tight first 18 minutes of the battle, the Buffaloes pulled away for an eventual 86-70 triumph.
Milligan and SMC played a tight first half that saw the Buffs incrementally build an eight-point lead at 26-18 with 7:23 left to be played in the period. Then, however, the Pioneers scored their next seven points over 2:14 of gameplay to make it a one-point game, yet again. At the 2:03 mark, the Buffs led 32-30, but would hold the hosts scoreless over the remainder of the half. Meanwhile, MU notched six straight points to balloon their lead back to eight points at 38-30 as the teams entered the locker room.
The Buffaloes' second half started beautifully, as they stretched out their lead to a 19-point margin with 15:14 to play, holding a 57-38 advantage. Spartanburg Methodist became the hunter at that point, clawing back to within 10 points at 70-60 with 6:13 left in the contest. Milligan emphatically slammed the door shut over the next 4:11, compiling a 14-3 run to grab their largest lead of the game at 84-63. The final two minutes bled out the clock, as the Buffs notched an 86-70 win over the Pioneers.
Elijah Bredwood's strong 10-of-17 night from the field resulted in 26 points. He made all five of his free-throw attempts in the contest, as well.
Liviu Anton poured in 24 points on a stellar 9-of-12 clip, which equaled a career-high total.
Te'Jon McDaniel-McCormick also scored in double figures, rattling home 11 points on a 3-of-11 shooting night.
Freshman
Zack Turner was the top distributor of the orange for the Buffaloes in the win. He dished out five assists.
Jake Benham totaled three, Bredwood passed out two and McDaniel-McCormick and
Sergej Cvetkovic split the remaining two.
Anton reeled in 11 rebounds, which was another career-best mark for him. It was also the first double-double of the Moldovan's freshman campaign. McDaniel-McCormick came just two rebounds short of a double-double, hauling in eight. Bredwood grabbed seven backboards in the tilt, and Benham joined those three with five or more, snatching five.
Zivko Damjanovic cleaned the glass three times, Cvetkovic and
Bo Koebbe nabbed two, while Turner and
Stefan Janevski collected the other two.
The Buffs had six steals in the win, with Bredwood accounting for half of them. Turner, Damjanovic and Janevski took away the other three.
It is now three straight AAC wins for the Buffaloes (7-16, 5-9 AAC), who remain one spot outside of the conference tournament with five conference tilts remaining. The team's next contest is this Saturday, Feb. 14 at 4 p.m. against the Johnson University Royals inside Steve Lacy Fieldhouse. That date will also serve as an opportunity to celebrate the program's seniors who will be departing post graduation.
