Wildcats Make it a Baker’s Dozen, Win 13th Straight with Road Victory at MVC

MARSHALL, Mo. - Lucky number 13 was the name of the game for the newly-minted No. 8 Baker men's basketball team as they made 13 threes to blow by Missouri Valley, 84-68 on the road Wednesday night and earn the Wildcats' 13th straight victory.

After shaking off an initial cold drought, BU finished the night shooting at a 50-percent clip from the field (28-for-56) and nearly matching that with a 13-for-27 line from three-point range.

Quentin Harvey had a big night for the 'Cats and tallied five threes to finish with a game-high 24 points while chipping in eight rebounds. Ty Henry (18), Noah Rigatuso (16) and Korey Jones (15) all joined Harvey in double figures.

It was a slow start for the Wildcats in just their second road game since the winter break as a three from Henry was the only bucket for BU through the first six minutes until Harvey got a trey to fall at the 13:19 mark.

Meanwhile, MVC hit four threes to build a double-digit lead with its fourth three of the half making it a 22-11 advantage for the hosts.

Then, with the score 30-18 in Valley's favor, Baker started to heat up from deep and reeled off an incredible 22-6 stretch to completely flip the momentum and take a 40-36 lead at the half.

BU connected on six 3-pointers during the run with Jones nailing three of them, kickstarting the barrage with back-to-back triples. Harvey also drained multiple shots from downtown, including one from NBA range to beat the buzzer and punctuate an electric finish to the half for the Wildcats.

Harvey maintained the three-point assault in the second half, burying one in the early going as the Wildcats carried over their first-half run and recorded 14 unanswered points to stretch their lead out to 48-36.

A three by Ahmed Mahgoub made it a 13-point lead and BU kept its distance through most of the half with the Vikings eventually getting within single digits for the final time with nine minutes left to play.

Henry scored 11 of his 18 points in the final nine minutes, hitting his second three of the game to put Baker back in front by double digits. After the last media timeout, he found Rigatuso on a cut to the lane for a contested layup and then drained a nice turnaround shot to make it a 20-point lead on the next possession.

The 13th and final three of the game for BU came from the hands of Harvey, who capped the conference victory with his fifth triple of the night.

Earlier in the day, the Wildcats cracked the top-10 of the NAIA's Top-25 Poll for the first time in program history, coming in at No. 8 in the latest national rankings.

Up next, Baker will look to stay perfect both in conference play (13-0) and at home (7-0) with a matchup against Culver-Stockton on Saturday, January 18 at 2 p.m. in the Collins Center.

#BakerBuildsChampions