Troy Childress
Reporter
November 11, 2005
The Milligan men’s basketball team bounced back from its first loss to defeat Johnson Bible College 91-78 on Monday. This evens Milligan’s record at 1-1.
“The key aspect (to the victory) was defense,” said sophomore Yony Kifle. “When we started playing defense we shut them down.”
Milligan was a little banged up going into this game as Kifle, their star point guard, was out with a sprained ankle, sophomore Joe Brown was playing at 55 percent and transfer senior Frankie Harris decided to red-shirt and not play this year.
“You might say we are without three starters from preseason,” said Coach Tony Wallingford. “Yony is listed as day-to-day.”
At the end of the first half the score was close with Milligan only up by four, but in the second half the Buffs came out with a sense of urgency.
“The guys picked it up in the second half,” Wallingford said. “They played with a little more intensity and picked the tempo up.”
The Buffs have a young team this year, and at numerous times in the game they had several freshmen on the court.
“We’ve got to play,” Wallingford said. “We’re throwing that roster as far as their class out the window because nobody cares when you jump it up if you are a freshman, sophomore or junior.”
One of the young freshmen leading the way was Tino Washington who led the team along with junior Adrian Harrison with 16 points. Washington also had four assists and two rebounds.
“I have guys supporting me and backing me up,” said Washington. “They tell me I can shoot and to just let it go.”
Washington was playing a different position than normal as Kifle was out. The young freshman stepped up big and handled the pressure of the new position.
“I felt no pressure,” said Washington. “Yony told me to calm down and helped me out during the game.”
One of the reasons the pressure was off Washington was the play of Milligan’s big men. Harrison had a double-double and freshman Jeff Barnes collected 12 points and five rebounds.
“I try to lead by example and play with some energy,” said Harrison. “If they can see me playing like that then maybe the whole team will follow.”
Junior Zach Dezarn helped the victory by knocking down several foul shots in the last few minutes of the game. He ended the game with 15 points and freshman Alex Carroll added 14.
The Buffs are just getting started this season. They have a lot of growing to do and a deep bench to pull from.
“It’s a challenge with 11 new guys and a lot of young players,” Wallingford said. “We’ll take the positive and work them harder to duplicate those things and look at the negative and work them harder to eliminate those.”
The Buffs travel to Union College (Ky.) for their next game on Nov.19, which will be their first conference game.