No. 10 Baker Takes Down No. 7 SAGU, 74-71 to Earn Program’s First NAIA Tournament Victory

WAXAHACHIE, Texas - Making its second straight postseason appearance, No. 10 Baker knocked off No. 7 SAGU, 74-71 in the 2024 NAIA Men's Basketball National Championship First Round, presented by Ballogy, to earn the program's first-ever victory in the national tournament here Friday night in Waxahachie, Texas.

The Wildcats trailed by three at half, but neither side led by more than eight points for the whole game as three straight free throws by Dylan Smith in the final minute of play gave Baker its first postseason win and secured its spot in the NAIA Second Round.

Noah Rigatuso went off for a 27-point night to lead BU in scoring with the junior from Omaha, Neb. catching fire in the second half where he put up 22 of his points. Ty Henry finished with 17 points, while Quentin Harvey recorded his first double-double of the year with 15 points and 11 rebounds.

Playing host to the four-team bracket in Waxahachie, the Lions opened up the game with back-to-back threes before Harvey countered with a three of his own as the back-and-forth pace was set quickly between the two teams.

SAGU kept its lead around four points through the first 10 minutes of play as a triple by BU's Ahmed Mahgoub was canceled out by another three from the Lions. After Henry splashed in another three, Harvey got a tough layup to fall to put the 'Cats within one at 18-17.

Harvey scored six straight points to eventually give the Wildcats the lead before SAGU reclaimed its advantage and pushed it to a four-point ballgame on their fourth 3-pointer of the first half.

After the Lions took the game's largest lead at eight points with 2:26 left, Henry and Harvey combined to cut BU's deficit with Henry sinking a three and then scoring on a nifty inbounds pass from Nick Whittick to make it a 34-31 halftime score in favor of SAGU.

While being held to five points in the first half, Rigatuso went right to work in the second half by scoring the first nine points for BU with his two-handed jam giving the Wildcats a 40-39 lead just three minutes into the half.

Mahgoub drained a three to give Baker a six-point lead before the Lions worked their way back with back-to-back threes tying the game at 47-47. SAGU added another set of treys to swing the lead to a seven-point favor for them.

Rigatuso converted a three-point play to tie things up at 61-61 with just under nine minutes left to play and a driving layup by Whittick put the Wildcats up by two. SAGU would swing the lead back to its side and used another shot from deep to lead 71-67 with four minutes remaining in the game.

The Wildcats held the Lions scoreless the rest of the way and got layups from Henry and Rigatuso to tie things up at 71-71 with 1:44 left. After Smith's first free throw put BU on top by one, Rigatuso came through with a clutch play on the defensive end forcing a turnover to give the ball back to the Wildcats and causing the Lions to have to foul and send Smith back to the line.

Smith knocked down both free throws to make it a three-point lead for BU before the Lions were able to get a look from three on the game's final play, but the shot was off the mark as the Wildcats came away with a thrilling victory for their first postseason win of all-time.

After going 0-5 in their first five trips to the NAIA tournament, Baker advances to the Round of 32 for the first time and will face former Heart team Evangel as the 15th-seeded Valor knocked off No. 2 Florida Memorial, 91-76 in the early game.

Tipoff for the NAIA National Tournament Second Round is set for tomorrow (Saturday), March 16 at 5:30 p.m. in Waxahachie. You can follow along with live stats here and watch a live stream of the game here.

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