MILLIGAN COLLEGE, TN (January 20, 2007) --- The Milligan College men’s basketball team defeated No. 23 Tennessee Wesleyan College (TWC) by a slim 81-78 score Saturday afternoon in Appalachian Athletic Conference (AAC) action at the Steve Lacy Fieldhouse. In the key AAC contest between two of the top three teams, Milligan never trailed at any point in the game.

With the win, Milligan improves to 16-5 overall while TWC now holds a 13-7 record. Milligan and TWC are tied in second place with their 8-2 records, behind Bluefield (Va.) College and their 9-1 AAC record.

Tennessee Wesleyan made a late run in the closing moments of the game against the home-standing Buffaloes. Milligan extended on their halftime lead out to 18 points, 67-49, with under 12 minutes remaining in the contest only to see TWC fight and battle back. The Bulldogs out scored Milligan 29-14 down the stretch and Tyler Gaskin’s 16 points over the final 10 minutes led the comeback attempt. Gaskin’s final three-point basket came in the final minute to cut the Milligan lead down to 80-78 with less than 30 seconds remaining.

Zach Dezarn (Franklin, Ohio) sunk a free throw with two seconds left to push the Milligan advantage back out to three points, 81-78. Tennessee Wesleyan’s in-bounds pass went out of bounds and gave the ball back to the Buffaloes for the final seconds and the 81-78 conference win.

The game started with a basket from Tyler Estepp (Limestone, Tenn.) and TWC answered with a basket of their own from John Ferguson. Milligan would then reel off four straight baskets to take a 10-2 lead early in the opening half. After a TWC spurt to trim the lead down to six points, 22-16, the Buffs went on a 12-3 run behind Jeff Barnes (Franklin, Tenn.) Barnes scored six of his 14 first-half points during the stretch. Milligan held a 34-19 advantage with six minutes remaining before halftime.

The Bulldogs of TWC went on a hot streak of their own and a basket from Wes Suiter made the score 38-29 with only three minutes remaining. To end the half, Milligan outscored TWC 12-4 and six of the Buffs’ points came from Estepp. With the late spurt, Milligan took a 50-33 advantage into the locker room at halftime.

All five of Milligan’s starters scored in double digits in the win. Leading the way was Barnes and his team-high 23 points. Barnes was 9-of-13 from the field and he grabbed six rebounds. Dezarn scored 16 points and accounted for three steals. Senior Adrian Harrison (Greensboro, N.C.) added 13 points to go along with his 13 rebounds, eight of which were offensive rebounds.  Danny McKeehan (Morrow, Ohio) finished the game with 14 points and also grabbed five offensive rebounds. To go along with his ten points, Estepp was credited with seven assists.

The Buffs blocked six shots in the contest, Harrison and Serge Babo (Indianapolis, Ind.) each blocked three TWC shots.

For TWC, Gaskin finished with 24 points, a game-high, while Zach Gulmire and Quinton Marion added 15 and 13 points respectively.

Milligan was 31-of-64 (48.4 pct.) from the field during the game compared to TWC’s 28-of-71 (39.4 pct.) performance. The Bulldogs held the rebounding advantage over Milligan, 38-37, including 21 offensive rebounds for TWC.

Next for the Buffs is a trip to Bristol to play Virginia Intermont College Tuesday, January 23. Tip off is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. at Virginia High School. Milligan won the earlier contest with Virginia Intermont, 86-62 on December 2.