SAVANNAH, Ga. – The Milligan University men's bowling team took part in the Southern States Athletic Conference (SSAC) Championships in Savannah, Ga. on Friday and Saturday. After winning their first matchup of the tourney to reach the final four teams in the event, the squad dropped their latter two matchups, ending up with a third-place finish out of the six attending programs.
The tourney began with a victory on Friday in the second round, after the Buffaloes had a bye in round one. A dominant win in the single team game to open the Buffs' matchup with third-seeded Mobile (Ala.). Milligan had a 922-809 win, with
Caleb McDonald leading the squad with a total of 205 pins for MU. Then, though, the Rams tied the score with a total of 695 pins across four baker games, while Milligan knocked down just 669. That sent the match to the best-of-five baker-game tiebreaker. The Buffaloes ended up with a 3-2 win across the best-of-five (215-222, 183-168, 207-131, 203-247, 204-157) to continue in the winner's bracket.
Getting the opportunity to move forward to round five on Saturday, Milligan matched up with the top seeded Bees of SCAD Savannah. It was the Bees who pulled out a win over the Buffs in the team game to open the battle, as the Buffaloes fell 994-919.
Chance McLane gave his best effort in that game, bowling a 238. Across the four baker games, SCAD Savannah built a 844-776 lead at the bout's conclusion to take a 2-0 win and send Milligan into a win-and-in scenario against Mobile to reach the final.
Milligan and Mobile went head-to-head in a best-of-seven baker games series, as Mobile took an early 2-0 lead after winning 149-135 and 175-158. The Buffs battled back, taking three of the next four games to knot things up at 3-3. Unfortunately, it was a 190-150 loss from the Buffaloes in the final bout to end the MU squad's tournament.
The conference announced their awards at the beginning of the championships, as well, as the Buffaloes had four total All-SSAC honorees, with
Sean Jenkins and McLane earning First-Team honors, and
Cameron Shockey and
Jackson McRae snatching Second-Team plaudits.
Cooper Baldwin,
Cooper Brackins,
Will Clabo, McRae and Shockey were also named to the Athletic Solutions All-Academic Team. Additionally, McRae was selected as the team's Champions of Character Team representative.
Now, the Buffaloes will have to hope that the NAIA selection committee will consider them for an at-large bid to the NAIA National Championships, which will take place on March 19-21 in Lansing, Mich. Before that, the team will take part in the ISC/ITC Sectionals in Pittsburgh, Pa. on March 13-15.
RESULTS
