Basketball teams open with losses


Gene Renfro and Mandi Mooney

Reporters

 

Men’s basketball
by Gene Renfro

The men’s basketball team lost the first two games of season at the Berea College Pepsi Invitational over the weekend.


In the opening game against Mt. Vernon Nazarene University, Milligan lost 80-72.


Leading the way for the Buffaloes in scoring was senior guard Michael Morrell with 18 points. Junior forward Craig Emmert scored 16 points. He was seven for nine from the floor with seven rebounds.


Junior guard Scott Ferguson led the team with eight assists. Senior guard Jonathon Harris had a team high 10 rebounds, and junior guard Eric Coggins was four for eight at the three-point line.


Milligan was ahead 38-26 at the half, only to see Mt. Vernon shoot 54 percent from the field in the second half. The Buffs shot 37 percent.


Milligan had 19 turnovers compared to Mt. Vernon’s 13. The Buffs were out rebounded 40 to 35 by the opponent.


Milligan lost their second game to Berea College 84-77.


Leading the way for Milligan in scoring was Coggins with 21 points. Emmert scored 19 points and led the team with nine rebounds. Harris added 16 points and six rebounds.

 
Berea led by 17 points at halftime, only to see Milligan cut their lead to a single point late in the second half. Milligan went 16 for 32 from the floor in the second half against while Berea was 12 for 27.


“(These were) two hard fought games,” coach Tony Wallingford said. “We had a chance to win both in the last five minutes.”


Milligan will host Berea at the Steve Lacy Fieldhouse Nov. 15 at 7:30 p.m.

 

Women’s basketball
by Mandi Mooney

The women’s basketball team lost to Brescia University and Cumberland College at the Brescia University Invitational in Owensboro, Ky. over the weekend.


In the first game on Friday night, Milligan faced Brescia University, the eighth ranked team in the NAIA conference. The final score was a disappointing 31-63.


“I thought the team performed really well on defense,” sophomore Kari Stout said, “but we were struggling a little on the offense overall.”


Stout led the Lady Buffs with 11 points, including three three-pointers and five rebounds. Senior Amanda Greene and junior Ann Marie Gardner also added five rebounds each. Milligan had a total of 21 turnovers, which resulted in Brescia scoring 17 extra points.


The Lady Buffs lost to Cumberland College 60-68 Saturday afternoon.


Sophomore Leah Seevers led the team with 14 points and seven rebounds. Senior Joy Clark contributed 12 points and junior Ginny White added 10.


“As a team, we have a lot of talent and have become very deep,” Stout said, “and our goal for this season is to perform extremely well at nationals in Iowa in March.”


Their current record is 0-2. The Lady Buffs will travel to Georgia on Friday for their next game against Berry College.