KINGSPORT, Tenn.— The Montreat men's basketball team advanced to the semifinal round of the WinWon Appalachian Athletic Conference (AAC) Men's Basketball Tournament on Friday where they faced the Milligan University Buffaloes. After beating Columbia International University last night, 82-79, the Cavaliers could not continue their playoff run and fell to Buffs in Kingsport, Tenn. by a score of 80-60.
The game started with a Milligan stampede as a quick 13-0 run stunned the Cavs from the opening tip. The stretch kept Montreat scoreless through the first five minutes of play. When the Cavs put their first bucket through the nylon, they started to heat up.
Jack Keller and
AJ Baskerville both drilled 3-point baskets to cut the lead to 10 points. At the break, the Cavs trailed by eight on the short end of a 37-29 scoreline.
In the second half, Montreat had a tough time answering when Milligan scored. To start the frame, Montreat gave up a 9-2 run. Later in the half, the Buffs trampled again with a 9-0 run that put the victory out of reach from the Cavs. The Cavaliers didn't go down without a fight, continuing to press and shoot the deep ball, desperately trying to have a shot at the championship game being played on Saturday. In the end, Montreat lost to the Buffaloes, 80-60.
In the contest, Keller and Baskerville led the Cavs with 13 points apiece. Baskerville also led with the most rebounds for Montreat, corralling six.
Jarden Maze and
RJ Manginello each had two assists, the most by any Cav.
Chris Moore and
Lawrence Cole each had two steals, leading the Cavaliers in the category.
Collectively, Montreat shot 32.7 percent from the field, knocking down 18 shots on 55 attempts. The Cavs hit seven 3-pointers on 22 tries to shoot 31.8 percent from behind the arc. From the stripe, the Cavaliers went 17-for-24, good enough for 70.8 percent. Montreat had fewer points from turnovers (17-12), bench points (22-18), points in the paint (40-20) and fast break points (22-6) than the Buffaloes after the 40-minute war.
The Montreat College Cavaliers wrapped up the 2024-25 season of adversity with a record of 19-11 (12-8 AAC). The campaign was an improvement from last year's 14-15 (11-13 AAC) record.
