BRISTOL, TN (February 22, 2007) --- The Milligan College men’s basketball team lost their first-round contest of the 2007 Appalachian Athletic Conference tournament 73-70 to rival King (Tenn.) College Thursday evening. The Buffs entered the contest as the No. 4 seed while King was the No. 5 seed for the tournament played at King’s Student Activity Center.

After a basket from Adrian Harrison (Greensboro, N.C.) scored the first basket of the game for the Buffs, King answered with seven-straight points. The Tornado went on to build a 15-10 lead over the first nine minutes. After Harrison scored his eighth point of the half to cut the lead down to three points, King reeled off six more points to hold a 21-12 lead with 8:47 to go in the opening half. Milligan came back with a quick 7-0 run started with back-to-back baskets from senior Serge Babo (Indianapolis, Ind.) and capped when fellow senior Zach Dezarn (Franklin, Ohio) drained a three pointer to make it 21-19. King withstood another Buffalo spurt to take a 34-26 lead to the locker room.

The Tornado saw their halftime lead swell up to 16 points, 58-42, half way through the final half. However the Buffs would not go away and an 8-0 run over the next two minutes made the game interesting once again. Milligan could not cut the lead down to under ten points until Harrison made a free throw to make the score 64-55 in favor of King, with 3:58 to go. Danny McKeehan (Morrow, Ohio) cut into the lead more after he converted a three-point play with three minutes left on the clock. Two King free throws from Nick Pasqua pushed their lead back out to eight points.

The Buffs answered with a five-point scoring spurt started with a three pointer from Dezarn and a basket from McKeehan to make the score 66-63. King put three more points on the board from the free-throw line their next two trips down the floor and led by six once again. Jeff Barnes (Franklin, Tenn.) scored two of his game-high 21 points to bring Milligan back to within four points with 1:20 left in regulation.

After Pasqua sunk two more free throws, Yony Kifle (Alexandria, Va.) drove the lane to lay in two points and the deficit was once again three points. Two more Pasqua free throws pushed the King lead back out to five and Barnes’ last-second three at the buzzer made the final score 73-70.

To go along with Barnes’ 21 points, he also grabbed a game-high 15 rebounds for the Buffs. Harrison poured in 14 points while Dezarn and McKeehan contributed 11 and 10 points respectively.

King was led by Clarence Smith and DeShaud Johnson with their 16 points apiece. RuShaun Reeves also scored 14.

Milligan shot 56.8 percent (25-for-44) for the game while they held King to only 40 percent (24-for-60). The Buffs also out rebounded King, 34-28, but Milligan committed 23 turnovers.