MILLIGAN COLLEGE, TN (February 17, 2007) --- In a thrilling way to end the 2006-2007 Appalachian Athletic Conference (AAC) men’s basketball regular season, the Milligan College Buffaloes defeated Montreat (N.C.) College 95-93 in double overtime Saturday night at the Steve Lacy Fieldhouse.

With the win, Milligan improves to 22-8 and 13-5 in the AAC while Montreat falls to 14-4 in the conference and 17-12 overall. The win for Milligan puts the Buffs in a tie for fourth place with rival King (Tenn.) College. Milligan and King will play in the first round of the AAC Tournament Thursday evening, at King. Montreat falls into a three-way tie for the AAC regular-season championship with Bluefield (Va.) College and Tennessee Wesleyan College. Game times and the bracket for the AAC Tournament will be announced Sunday.

In a game that saw 23 lead changes and 15 ties, Milligan took their final lead 1:30 into the second overtime period when Jeff Barnes (Franklin, Tenn.) scored two of his career-high 29 points. The Buffs would push their lead out to seven points with a minute remaining. Montreat cut the lead down to four points when Aaron Collazo drained a three pointer with 59 seconds remaining. Adrian Harrison (Greensboro, N.C.) knocked down both of his free throws to extend their lead back to five points.

Stephen Whiteside’s basket with 22 seconds remaining made the score 92-89 in favor of the Buffs. Whiteside then fouled Tyler Estepp (Limestone, Tenn.) and he made one free throw to give Milligan a four-point advantage with 17 seconds remaining. After Barnes committed his fifth foul on Whiteside, he made his first free throw, but missed the second. Matthew Njoku then fouled Danny McKeehan (Morrow, Ohio) and McKeehan went 1-for-2 at the line to make the score 94-90 with 15 seconds to go. Whiteside nailed a three pointer with under ten seconds to go to make it a one point game, but Zach Dezarn (Franklin, Ohio) made a free throw to push the lead back to two points. A final desperation shot from Collazo missed and gave Milligan a 95-93 win.

In the first overtime, Barnes answered a basket from Nobel Anthony to tie the score 71-71. Dezarn gave the Buffs a two point lead with two free throws and Anthony tied the game half way through the overtime period with a basket. Tim Lewis put Montreat in front with two free throws of his own only to see Barnes answer to tie the game for the 13^th time with 1:55 remaining in the period. Kinard Barnett gave Montreat a two point lead after he sunk two free throws. Yony Kifle (Alexandria, Va.) tied the game 77-77 with a few seconds remaining in the period to send the game to double overtime.

In the second half, Montreat and Milligan traded baskets early and the largest lead for either team the first ten minutes was Montreat’s four point lead. When Thomas Nicholson made his three pointer with nine minutes to go, he put the Cavs up 55-53. After Kifle made another free throw, Montreat rolled off seven straight points, to hold an eight point lead, 62-54, with seven minutes left.

The Buffs answered with an 8-to-0 run of their own, capped by a McKeehan basket, over the next four minutes to take a 63-62 lead with 3:30 left in regulation.

Lewis and Anthony scored back-to-back baskets to give the Cavs a 68-65 lead. McKeehan cut the lead down to one after he sunk both of his free throws, and Barnes gave Milligan a one point lead with his basket. Barnett was fouled by Serge Babo (Indianapolis, Ind.) and he missed his first free throw, but made the second one to tie the game.

With under five seconds remaining, Dezarn stepped out of bounds on the baseline to give the ball back to Montreat. The Cavs’ inbounds pass was deflected by Barnes and Estepp gathered the ball in at half court and gave the ball a heave towards the basket for a game-winning shot, but it just missed to send the game to overtime, tied 69-69.

Milligan took an 11-10 lead five minutes into the game when Barnes scored. The Buffs eventually led by as many as eight points on two occasions. Montreat battled back to tie the contest 29-29 with four minutes to go before halftime, and Lewis gave the Cavs a two point lead. Babo scored on the Buffs’ next trip down the floor and McKeehan gave the Buffs a 33-31 lead going into halftime.

To go along with his 29 points, Barnes collected a team-high 14 rebounds. McKeehan added 22 points to go along with his six assist in the win. On Senior Night, Milligan’s four seniors combined for 36 points. Dezarn led the group with 17 points while Harrison poured in 15 points to go with his three blocks. Babo scored four points, but he gathered in eight rebounds and blocked three shots as well.

For the Cavs, Lewis scored 22 points while Anthony accounted for 16 points but he grabbed a game-high 21 rebounds. Collazo made four three-pointers and a free throw for his 15 points.