Lady Knights stumble in loss to Milligan
LAURINBURG — The St. Andrews University women’s basketball team fell 66-50 at home Saturday to Milligan College (Tenn.) in AAC action.
A low-scoring first half saw the Lady Knights hold a slim lead, 10-7, after one quarter. The Lady Knights lead shrunk to one-point 24-23 at halftime. St. Andrews could not pull away struggling from three-point range going 0-for-9 in the first half.
Milligan came out in the second half to take control of the game and outscore the Lady Knights 25-13 in the third quarter. St. Andrews rallied in the fourth cutting Milligan’s lead down to six but that would be as close as they would come. The Lady Knights shot 37 percent in the second half while Milligan shot 44 percent and 35 percent overall.
The difference was Milligan’s 3-point shooting at 35 percent as they knocked down 12 threes while they held the Lady Knights to zero threes in the game.
St. Andrews forced 19 turnovers while forcing 11 steals and pulling down 43 rebounds, but committed too many turnovers to secure a victory.
Freshman forward Morgan Perkins led the Lady Knights with 14 points along with seven rebounds, an assist, a block, and a steal. Fellow freshman Aquera Johnson finished with five points, and a team-high 10 rebounds with an assist and a steal.
Sophomore guard Samantha Ring was the second Lady Knight to finish in double-figures with 10 points, four rebounds and four steals.
Sophomore point guard Courtney Rowe finished with a team-high of seven assists, along with six points, five rebounds, and three steals.
St. Andrews falls to 5-11 overall and 3-10 in the AAC while Milligan improves to 10-9 overall and 6-6 in the conference.
The Lady Knights are in action tonight at 6:30 p.m. as they travel to Columbia College (2-14) in South Carolina.
Knights fall in overtime to Milligan
LAURINBURG — The St. Andrews University men’s basketball team dropped a heartbreaking overtime thriller to conference foe Milligan College (Tenn.) 78-72 on Saturday.
Milligan got out to a hot start putting up 44 points in the first half on 47 percent shooting — 46 percent from three — while holding St. Andrews to 29 points and just two threes.
After Milligan stretched its lead to 17 early in the second half, the Knights went on a 36-14 run to take a one-point lead, 64-63. A big three-pointer by senior guard Ben Twigger snagged the lead for the Knights. St. Andrews held onto its slim leadn and with 30 seconds left in regulation were ahead 67-65. The Knights missed the free throws to would have put the game away, along with a costly turnover on the inbound play that led to the tying basket by Milligan, which sent the game into overtime.
Milligan outscored the Knights 11-5 in the extra period for the win.
St. Andrews had three players in double-figures — senior guard Carlos Heath, juniost Christian Lathan and freshman Jean Calvin Ahoume.
Heath led the Knights with 22 points on 8-of-10 shooting with five assists and a block. Lathan added 10 points, seven rebounds, and five assists while Ahoume scored 14 points on 5-of-7 and brought down a team-high 11 rebounds with a block and a steal.
St. Andrews falls to 2-10 overall and 2-9 in the AAC with the tough luck loss while Milligan improves to 7-10 overall and 6-5 in the AAC.
The Knights will be back in action on Thursday, Jan. 18 at 7:30 p.m. hosting No. 12 Montreat College (15-2).