Wildcats Win Fifth Straight, Cruise Past Statesmen on the Road, 82-64

OSKALOOSA, Iowa – Five different Wildcats reached double figures to help lead Baker men's basketball to its fourth straight double-digit victory - and fifth straight overall - with an 82-64 win at William Penn on Saturday.

After leading by four at halftime, the Wildcats outscored the Statesmen, 47-33 in the second half with the trio of Braden Griffiths, Quentin Harvey and Ahmed Mahgoub combining to tally all nine of Baker's 3-pointers in the game.

Harvey's 22 points led the scoring for BU to give the junior forward his third straight 20-point game, while Mahgoub finished with 13 points. Korey Jones and Dylan Smith chipped in 12 points apiece with Jones putting on a solid defensive effort to add seven rebounds and four steals to his day.

A dunk by Jones provided a nice lift in the early going for BU as his driving one-handed jam gave the Wildcats a 10-6 lead in the game's opening minutes.

Back-to-back threes from Mahgoub and Griffiths ignited a BU side that splashed a total of four treys over a three-minute stretch to run its lead all the way out to 15 points. Griffiths' third triple of the run made it a 28-13 lead for the hosts with just under nine minutes left in the first half.

Things cooled down for the Wildcats though as a sluggish end to the second half saw them score just five points in the final eight minutes. Meanwhile, the Statesmen rattled off 12 unanswered points to turn their double-digit deficit into a narrow 35-31 lead for BU at the half.

After WPU opened the second half with a three to make it a one-point ballgame, back-to-back dunks by Jones and Ty Henry helped settle the momentum. Harvey added a three a little bit later to put Baker up by eight before a 3-pointer by the Statesmen cut it to a four-point game at the 14:28 mark.

Harvey and Mahgoub connected on another set of threes to give the Wildcats their first double-digit lead of the second half. The pair helped fuel a 12-2 Baker run with both of them swishing their final threes of the game to make it 70-51 with just over seven minutes remaining.

William Penn never got closer than 14 points for the rest of the way and a Mahgoub dunk in the final two minutes put the finishing touches on Baker's 82-64 win to complete a season sweep of the defending regular-season conference champions.

Winners of five straight, the Wildcats move to 17-4 in Heart play and have locked up a top-four conference finish, currently sitting in second place with three games remaining.

The Heart's biggest game of the season is on tap next for the Wildcats as they will square off against league frontrunner No. 23 MidAmerica Nazarene on Wednesday, Feb. 14 at 7:30 p.m. in Olathe, Kan. in a Valentine's Day showdown between the two conference rivals.

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