King’s Defense Holds Off Miligan

BRISTOL, Tenn. – King College men’s basketball coach George Pitts screamed out “pressure!” and the pressure came. Pitts screamed out “defense!” and the defense came. And Milligan College had no answer.

The Tornado’s relentless, trap-heavy, pressure defense wore down the Buffaloes on Wednesday evening, as King held on to claim a 78-68 victory in an Appalachian Athletic Conference contest at the Student Center Complex before an estimated crowd of 750.

The Tornado collected 20 Milligan turnovers, and King shot 49.1 percent (27 of 55) from the field.

“Our full-court [defense] for the whole game, I was pretty satisfied,” Pitts said. “I thought we did pretty well there.”

Kyle Savely recorded game-highs in points (29 on 9-of-13 shooting) and assists (six), and grabbed four rebounds to lead the Tornado (12-5, 5-2 AAC), while Ben Bosse added 16 points and nine rebounds, and Josh Padgett scored 15 points (5 of 7 on 3-point attempts).

“We played great team ball tonight,” Padgett said. “The past couple games, we’ve all just stepped up and played our role.”

Jeff Barnes tied for a team-high with 17 points and collected a game-high 14 rebounds to lead the Buffaloes (9-7, 3-4), while Derrick Nave added 17 points (4 of 8 on 3-pointers).

King held a 40-27 halftime lead, but a 12-4 Milligan run following the break tightened the contest.

A swished 3 from the left wing by Nave then tied the game at 51 all with 11 minutes, 26 seconds left in the second half.

Following Nave’s make, a King fan shouted out, “Good God!” in disgust.

The Tornado then fell behind, 56-54.

But King, led by the one-two punch of Savely and Padgett, rolled of 17 of the game’s next 20 points.

“We still don’t have that attitude of we’re ahead 10, let’s get ahead 15,” Pitts said. “We’re ahead 10 – hey, we’re all right. We still don’t have that attitude yet.”

King College 65, Milligan College 56

Ashley Dean’s team-high 14 points on 5-of-10 shooting led the Tornado to victory. Beth Raby and Kristi Moody added 11 points apiece for King, who outrebounded Milligan 41-29.

“It was a very good win. A conference game on your home floor is definitely a good win” Tornado coach Michele Williams said. “I don’t think that we played as well as we’re capable of playing tonight. … I don’t think that any one of my kids played up to their potential.”

Heather Mandela scored a game-high 21 points and grabbed a team-high seven rebounds to lead the Buffaloes.

Allison Bosse added nine points and six rebounds for King, while Anisha Buchanan collected a game-high 10 rebounds and scored eight points.

King held Milligan to 25.9 percent (7 of 27) shooting from the field in the first half. The Tornado led 24-18 at halftime.

Both squads combined to record 79 points in the second half, as King outscored Milligan, 41-38.

A three-point play by Moody on a putback basket and ensuing free throw made it 63-51 Tornado with 1:10 left in the contest.

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