Wildcats Cool Off Red-Hot Pioneers with 69-55 Victory at Home

BALDWIN CITY - Facing a Pioneers squad that just put up 116 points on Saturday, the No. 11 Baker men's basketball team held MidAmerica Nazarene to less than half of that total on Thursday night as the Wildcats came out on top, 69-55 in the Collins Center.

Moving to 19-2 in conference play, the Wildcats can clinch the Heart of America Conference regular-season championship with a win on Saturday at Graceland. The Yellowjackets currently sit behind BU in second place with a 17-4 record against league opponents.

It would mark Baker's first conference title in over 35 years with their last championship coming in 1989.

BU bottled up the MNU offense, holding them under 30 points in each half and forcing 17 turnovers for the game. Meanwhile, Baker overcame a slow start offensively before finding its footing midway through the first half and never relinquished the lead to earn a double-digit victory for the 18th time this season.

Quentin Harvey tallied three of BU's six threes in the game to lead the team in scoring with 19 points. Noah Rigatuso joined his fellow frontcourt mate in double figures with 15 points, while Ahmed Mahgoub fell a point shy of a double-double with nine points and 10 rebounds.

With the rivalry game being pushed back a day due to inclement weather, things started off cool inside the Collins Center for BU after they took an initial 8-3 lead. The Wildcats remained stuck at eight for over a five-minute stretch, but didn't dig too deep of a hole as MNU was only able to go in front, 14-8.

A layup by Mahgoub kickstarted the BU offense, followed by a three-point play from Rigatuso and a runout jam from Henry to bring the home crowd to its feet. Harvey drained a three and then picked up a steal on the defensive end which led to another breakaway bucket for BU as they retook the lead at 26-24.

Harvey closed out his excellent first half with another three and a couple of free throws to give Baker a 35-28 halftime lead.

The Wildcats got off to a sluggish start in the second half as well with Rigatuso and Keynan Russell registering their only field goals of the first eight minutes of the half. Once again, it was Mahgoub who snapped the cold stretch with Kaimen Lennox feeding him on a jumper and 3-pointer to stretch the Wildcats' lead out to, 46-37.

A three from Lennox gave Baker its largest lead of the game at 14 points with 9:06 left to play before MNU worked its way back to a single-digit distance. The Pioneers got as close as four points with a three-point play cutting BU's lead to 55-51 with less than five minutes remaining.

Harvey and Henry helped to deliver the final knockout punches down the home stretch with Harvey crashing the boards for a stick-back and then connecting on his final trey of the game. Henry followed with another three-point dagger to seal the game for the Wildcats as they kept their perfect home record intact (11-0) with a 69-55 victory.

Heading out for its final road trip of the regular season, Baker will square off against Graceland on Saturday, February 15 with tipoff from Lamoni, Iowa scheduled for 4 p.m.

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