Wildcats Continue Hot Start to Heart Play, Clip Bobcats on the Road, 81-73

PERU, Neb. – Playing its second road game in the past four days, Baker men's basketball grinded out a hard-fought 81-73 victory at Peru State on Wednesday night to move to 6-1 in conference play and earn the Wildcats' third straight win against a Heart of America team.

The Wildcats outlasted the Bobcats in the second half by getting to the free-throw line, shooting 29 free throws in the half, while using their defense to force 21 PSC turnovers in the game. Despite being held to a season-low three 3-pointers, Baker ended up going 24-for-37 from the line with the 37 attempts being the most in a game for them this season.

Quentin Harvey led a string of three BU players in double figures, tallying exactly 21 points for the second straight game. Noah Rigatuso followed right behind with 18 points with 10 of his coming from the charity stripe, while Ty Henry chipped in 12 points, five rebounds and four steals.

With the two teams duking it out for the full 40 minutes, the back-and-forth began almost immediately as Peru State jumped out with the first eight points of the game before the Wildcats countered back with 13 unanswered points.

Baker big man Brock Burling went to work inside with back-to-back buckets giving BU a 20-13 lead midway through the opening half. The Bobcats hit a couple of threes on their end to cut it to a three-point game before retaking the lead on a dunk at the 5:44 mark.

The lead would exchange sides for the rest of the first half as a three-point play by Henry looked to give the Wildcats the upper hand, but the Bobcats sank a three with 30 seconds left to go into the break with a 34-33 lead.

The second half opened up with a couple of quick layups by Harvey and Korey Jones before Peru State would take a three-point lead three minutes into the half as neither side could gain much cushion throughout the early part of the second half.

Quick hands by Rigatuso and Henry on defense would lead to a breakaway dunk for Rigatuso as his jam made it a three-point favor for BU before the Bobcats tied things right back up at 46-46 on the following possession with their second straight triple.

BU would get another big lift from its defense just a few plays later with Jones being the one to pick-pocket a steal this time and turn it into a run-out dunk to put Baker on top, 50-46. After the Bobcats reclaimed the lead, a three by Henry sent the Wildcats back in front and kicked off a 12-3 run for BU that saw them make it a 64-57 game on another steal by Rigatuso.

BU maintained its advantage during a key stretch of the game that saw them shoot 7-of-9 from the line and go up by double digits on a Rigatuso free throw with five minutes left in the game. The Bobcats hit back-to-back treys to get within six, but that's as close as they'd the rest of the way as Baker sealed the game from the line to come out on top, 81-73.

Winning six of their first seven games against Heart opponents, the Wildcats are off to their best start in conference play since at least 2003, improving on last year's mark that saw them go 5-2 in their first seven league games before finishing with a 16-6 record in the Heart.

Heading into the final stretch before the calendar turns, Baker will begin a two-game homestand with William Penn coming to town on Saturday, Dec. 9 with tipoff set for 2 p.m. in the Collins Center.

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