Rigatuso’s 30-Point Outing Pushes Wildcats to Fourth Straight Win

BALDWIN CITY, Kan. – Backed by a season-high 30 points from Noah Rigatuso, Baker men's basketball blew past visiting William Penn, 86-65 here Saturday in the Collins Center to earn the Wildcats' fourth straight victory and move them to 7-1 in conference play.

The Wildcats used a 47-point first half to carry an eight-point lead at the break and held the Statesmen to just 26 points in the second half to come away with BU's third 20-point win over a league opponent this season.

Rigatuso dropped 20 points in the first half and finished shooting over 60 percent from the floor, overcoming some free-throw woes to register his highest scoring total of the season. Quentin Harvey reached double figures as well with 11 points, while Ahmed Mahgoub provided a great spark off the bench after filling up the stat sheet with 10 points, five rebounds and five steals.

The game started off with a bang for Rigatuso and the Wildcats as the junior from Omaha, Neb. scored the first two buckets of the game with the second one coming on a slam dunk to spark a quick WPU timeout.

Baker would get out to a double-digit lead just five minutes into the game with another Rigatuso dunk making it 18-7 in favor of BU. The Statesmen cut it to within four though before a Mahgoub three gave the Wildcats a little bit of cushion again.

With nine minutes remaining, the Statesmen tied the game at 25-25 and eventually took a three-point lead on a couple of occasions before the Wildcats used a 12-2 run to go ahead 42-35 on a three by Braden Griffiths.

Another long ball from Griffiths made it a six-point lead for Baker with about 80 seconds left and a jumper by Keynan Russell just before the buzzer gave the Wildcats a 47-39 halftime lead.

Over a minute into the second half, Mahgoub's three put the 'Cats on top by 12 and the Statesmen would shave a few points off their deficit to trail by seven at 55-48. The Wildcats rattled off eight straight points though to build their lead back up to double digits.

WPU made it a six-point ballgame with 8:47 left to play, but that would be as close they'd get as four straight points by Harvey put BU up, 70-60. The Wildcats would go on to score 12 unanswered with a Ty Henry jumper making it 78-60 as Baker closed the door on its seventh conference win of the season.

For Rigatuso, it was his sixth game of the year with at least 18 points as he has reached double figures in all but one conference game this season.

The Wildcats host their final home game of the calendar year next weekend with a matchup against Mount Mercy on Dec. 16 at 2 p.m. in Baldwin City.

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