No. 2 Baker Holds Off Surging Pirates to Advance to Heart Semifinals in 87-85 Victory

BALDWIN CITY, Kan. – For the second straight year, Baker earned a tough quarterfinals win at home as the second-seeded Wildcats outlasted a tenacious No. 7 Park team, 87-85 here Tuesday night in the Collins Center in the quarterfinals of the 2024 Heart Men's Basketball Conference Tournament, presented by WinWon Technologies.

The Wildcats boasted a 13-point lead with just over four minutes left in the game, but the Pirates, who won five straight games to end the regular season, used a late surge to nearly pull off a stunner as BU survived to secure a spot in the Heart Semifinals for the second straight season.

Ty Henry, Ahmed Mahgoub and Noah Rigatuso each chipped in 17 points to pace a Wildcats squad that struggled from behind-the-arc (5-for-19) with Mahgoub accounting for two of the five triples in the game. Battling with foul trouble, Quentin Harvey finished in double digits with 11 points.

The conference nail-biter resulted in both teams matching or coming close to matching each other throughout the stat sheet with both sides shooting exactly 50.8 percent from the floor and each registering 42 points in the paint. The Pirates sank one more three (6) than the Wildcats (5), but Baker earned more trips to the free throw line (20-for-30) over Park, who went 15-for-18 at the line.

The game got off to a quick back-and-forth with both teams pushing the pace, but it didn't translate to much scoring through the early going with a three by Mahgoub opening the contest up a little bit and giving the Wildcats a 13-8 lead.

After the Pirates hit a three to make it a two-point ballgame, Braden Griffiths knocked down a trey to push BU's lead back out to seven points. Harvey added five straight points, including a tough three-point play that gave the Wildcats their first double-digit lead of the game at 29-19.

Dylan Smith knocked down a pair of free throws to run BU's lead up to 14 points with just under six minutes left til halftime and the senior guard drained a three to keep things at a double-digit advantage.

Big man Brock Burling was rewarded for his hustle on a late BU fastbreak that ended with him finishing off Baker's 47-point half as the Wildcats took a healthy 47-31 lead into the break.

Park opened up the second half with a 12-5 run to spark a timeout from Baker head coach Sean Dooley, but a couple of buckets by Burling and Rigatuso held things at double digits for BU with Rigatuso's layup making it 62-49.

Cason Richardson finished off a gritty three-point play and hooked up with Burling for a huge alley-oop dunk to bring the Collins crowd to its feet and put Baker on top, 70-55 with 10:16 left in the game.

With under seven minutes remaining, Henry swished a three and Rigatuso completed another three-point play for BU to give them a 16-point lead as things started to seem well in-hand for the Wildcats.

However, the Pirates rattled off a 12-2 run to make it a six-point ballgame with just over two minutes left before Smith finished off an incredible reverse layup to halt the momentum. Park knocked down a three and added a free throw to get within four points with less than 90 seconds left.

After Mahgoub sank a couple of crucial free throws, Park came down and hit another triple to get within two and, after four straight free throw misses for BU, had a couple of chances to win the game, but both shots would fall off the mark as Baker held on for an 87-85 victory.

It marks Baker's second straight year with a conference tournament win after the Wildcats defeated MidAmerica Nazarene in a double-overtime thriller at home last season in the Heart Quarterfinals.

The Wildcats will host No. 3 Graceland for the semifinals of the Heart Tournament on Friday, March 1 at 7 p.m. in the Collins Center. BU swept the regular-season series against the Yellowjackets with an overtime win (90-84) on the road back in January before a double-digit victory (88-78) at home on Feb. 7.

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