Wildcats Get Back on Track with 78-67 Victory at Mount Mercy

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa – After being tripped up in its previous two road outings, the Baker men's basketball got back into the win column with a 78-67 victory over conference opponent Mount Mercy on Saturday in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

The Wildcats put up 38 points in the paint and missed just one of their 11 free throws in the game, while the Mustangs made their living via the longball. MMU shot over 45 percent from deep (46.2%) and tallied 12 threes in the game, but made just eight total shots inside the three-point arc.

Noah Rigatuso led another balanced scoring effort for BU with 18 points and seven rebounds. Quentin Harvey put up 15 points in his first game of the new year, while Ahmed Mahgoub (14) and Ty Henry (10) finished in double figures as well.

Things got off to a bit of a slow start thru the first 10 minutes of action with a three-point play by Nick Whittick bringing the score to a 15-14 lead for BU midway thru the first half. A steal by Braden Griffiths resulted in an easy lay-in for Harvey, who followed with his only triple of the game to give Baker a four-point lead.

After the Wildcats went up by seven, the Mustangs made their way back to trim it to a one-possession game with 3:29 left in the half. A three by Mahgoub capped a 7-2 spurt for BU to close out the first half as the Wildcats went into halftime with a 36-28 lead.

In the second half, the Mustangs scored the first five points to trigger a timeout from the BU bench before things escalated too quickly. The strategy seemed to work as Baker delivered an 11-0 counterpunch run to go up, 47-33 in the first four minutes of the second half.

The Mustangs came right back with a response of their own though with a 13-2 run, including back-to-back threes, making it a three-point ballgame at 49-46. After the two teams traded points for a stretch, another triple by Mahgoub gave BU a little cushion with a nine-point lead just under the 10-minute mark.

Another set of MMU threes trumped a Mahgoub triple as the Mustangs made it a 61-58 ballgame with just over six minutes left to play.

Baker head coach Sean Dooley used another run-halting timeout to regroup his troops for the final stretch as the Wildcats came out of the huddle with a back-breaking 15-3 run to deliver the decisive blow to the Mustangs and turn a shaky three-point lead into a comfortable 15-point cushion in a matter of minutes.

With the Mustangs seemingly only being able to score by margins of three, the Wildcats survived a couple more treys from the hosts and held on to earn a 78-67 win for BU's 15th victory of the season.

Moving to 13-4 in Heart play, Baker makes a welcome return to the Collins Center with a matchup against (RV) Central Methodist on Wednesday, Jan. 31 at 7:30 p.m. in Baldwin City.

#BakerBuildsChampions