Milligan College Buffaloes

Athens, Tenn. (Jan. 26, 2008) --- Despite an early lead by Tennessee Wesleyan, the Milligan College Buffaloes came back for the conference win. The Buffaloes defeated the Bulldogs 86-80.

After an early eight point deficit, Milligan made a hard run for half time and lead going into the locker room, 42-29. Both teams came back from the half ready to play but, the Buffaloes came out stronger. At one point, Milligan lead by 19 points in the second half. Wesleyan hit a barrage of three-pointers to narrow the game to five points but, last minute free throws from Milligan iced the score for the eventual win.

The win tonight puts Milligan's record at 15-5 and Wesleyan at 10-8. Milligan is now 6-4 in the AAC conference.

Jeff Barnes (Franklin, Tenn.) made a great return for the Buffaloes as the teams' high scorer with 26 points and four rebounds. Derrick Nave (Elizabethton, Tenn.) was next with 19 points on the night. Danny McKeehan (Morrow, Ohio.) also added 15 points and four assists on his first night back from injury. Davis Warner (Smyrna, Tenn.) and Joe Brown (Blountville, Tenn.) also have four rebounds on the night. Warner also grabbed four rebounds.

Wesleyan's top scorers were Tyler Gaskins with 35 points and Zack Gulmire with 20 points. Matt Towry also pulled down eight rebounds for the Bulldogs.

Coach Tony Wallingford had a lot to say about tonight's win, “Our guys came in and battled extremely hard on the road for the conference win. It was good to have Danny (McKeehan) and Jeff (Barnes) back on the court. Both guys are still working themselves back into playing shape and a playing rhythm. We had a lot of guys step up and make big plays for us.”

The Buffaloes are back in action at home on January 30, 2008 against Virginia Intermont College at 7:30 p.m.