Late Culver-Stockton Run Steals Road Finale from (RV) Baker

CANTON, Mo. – Culver-Stockton held the visiting Wildcats scoreless and tallied seven unanswered points in the final two minutes of play to hand (RV) Baker its second straight loss of the road trip with a 73-71 setback here Saturday in the final regular-season road game away from Baldwin City for BU.

A pair of free throws by Noah Rigatuso gave Baker a 71-66 lead with 2:22 remaining, but Culver-Stockton hit six straight from the line and took advantage of a couple of BU turnovers to knock off one of the conference's top-two teams.

Quentin Harvey was one of three Wildcats in double figures with a team-high 19 points. Noah Rigatuso put together an all-around effort with 15 points, eight rebounds, five assists, two steals and a block. Ty Henry went 2-of-3 from deep to finish with 11 points.

Back-to-back buckets by Harvey put Baker up by two in the early going before the score stood at an 8-6 standstill for a few minutes until Rigatuso's dunk brought things to life. A pair of 3-pointers from Ahmed Mahgoub and Dylan Smith gave BU a four-point advantage midway through the opening half.

Henry's first three of the game pushed Baker's lead out to 25-18 before a big 14-2 run by C-SC saw them take a five-point lead. A three-point play from Rigatuso helped to cool off the run as Baker ended up stealing the momentum back to its side before halftime with a buzzer-beater from Braden Griffiths giving BU a 35-33 lead at the break.

In the second half, C-SC hit a three right out the gate to immediately take the lead back and the two sides would flip-flop leads thru the first few minutes. Harvey and Henry teamed up for a string of buckets to put Baker up by five and another trey from Griffiths gave BU a 49-43 lead with 12 minutes left in the game.

Baker would take the only double-digit lead of the whole game at the 9:16 mark in the second half before Culver-Stockton used seven straight points to quickly erase the cushion. With BU clinging to a three-point lead, the two teams traded points for a stretch that finally ended with Henry coming through with a timely three-point dagger to put Baker on top, 68-64 with over three minutes left in the game.

After some BU free throws, C-SC finished off with its devastating 7-0 run to steal the road win from a Baker squad that was minutes away from its 10th road victory of the season.

It marked the second straight setback for a Baker team that has only lost back-to-back games one other time this season, going over three months since a pair of non-conference losses back in early November.

Holding steady at second in the Heart standings, Baker will close out the regular season with a matchup against Peru State in a home finale for BU on Wednesday, Feb. 21 at 7:30 p.m. inside the Collins Center.

#BakerBuildsChampions