The Milligan College Buffaloes (MC) junior varsity basketball team did something last weekend that many dream of and few are fortunate enough to accomplish: play a college basketball game inside Chapel Hill ’s famed Dean E. Smith Center
MC made the three-hour-plus road trip last Sunday, Feb. 6, to take on the junior varsity Tar Heels of the University of North Carolina (UNC). Despite a strong second half effort, a total of 19 MC turnovers and a pair of UNC scoring spurts in each half proved too strong as the Buffaloes fell by an 86-61 final score.
MC hung tough in the early going, but a UNC run late in the first half propelled the Tar Heels to a 44-21 lead at halftime.
MC made the three-hour-plus road trip last Sunday, Feb. 6, to take on the junior varsity Tar Heels of the University of North Carolina (UNC). Despite a strong second half effort, a total of 19 MC turnovers and a pair of UNC scoring spurts in each half proved too strong as the Buffaloes fell by an 86-61 final score.
MC hung tough in the early going, but a UNC run late in the first half propelled the Tar Heels to a 44-21 lead at halftime.
Despite the deficit, the Buffaloes continued to battle, holding UNC to only six points during a stretch midway through the second half to cut the deficit to 61-48 with 6:35 to play in the game. A late Tar Heel run boosted the lead back more than 20 points to close out the contest.
North Carolina
Smith finished with 12 points, trailing only sophomore guard Patrick McPhail, who led the home team in scoring with 18.
Freshman forward Denzel Robinson added a double-double, tallying 10 points and 10 rebounds. The Tar Heels out-rebounded the Buffaloes 57-37.
“We came out of the gates really strongly, having the adrenaline of playing in the Dean Dome for the first time, but that eventually wore off. We got into a hole in the first half that was just too much to come back from,” Milligan head coach Aaron Collazo said after the game.
North Carolina
Smith finished with 12 points, trailing only sophomore guard Patrick McPhail, who led the home team in scoring with 18.
Freshman forward Denzel Robinson added a double-double, tallying 10 points and 10 rebounds. The Tar Heels out-rebounded the Buffaloes 57-37.
“We came out of the gates really strongly, having the adrenaline of playing in the Dean Dome for the first time, but that eventually wore off. We got into a hole in the first half that was just too much to come back from,” Milligan head coach Aaron Collazo said after the game.
“In the second half, we could have easily just given up and enjoyed the fact that we were playing in the Dean Dome, but our guys played hard and played together to make a run that would cut it down to 13 midway through the secnd half. They were hitting tough shots on their end against what I thought was much better defense than I saw from us in the first half. If we could have played that way in the first half, I have no doubt we would have been in that game in the end. We played 20 really competitive minutes of basketball and I was very proud of the way my team responded after being down in the first half.”
