Overtime Thriller Clinches Historic Conference Title for Wildcats

LAMONI, Iowa - For the first time in over 35 years, the Baker men's basketball team was crowned the Heart of America Conference Regular-Season Champions after the Wildcats pulled out an 86-84 victory in overtime over Graceland here Saturday evening.

Kaimen Lennox converted a three-point play with five seconds left in overtime to push BU out in front and the Wildcats survived a last-second GU shot to come away with the program's second conference title.

Baker won its first conference championship back in 1989 under Hall of Fame head coach Rick Weaver.

With neither side leading by more than seven points in entire the game, the Heart's Game of the Week matchup opened up with a high-scoring first half that saw the Wildcats go into the break trailing, 46-43.

The offense slowed down a little bit in the second half though until a frantic final three minutes of regulation where three straight free throws allowed Baker to tie the game at 76-76 and send them to their first overtime game of the season.

Lennox racked up a season-high 22 points to lead BU, missing only one shot from the floor all night. Noah Rigatuso followed closely behind with 22 points and seven rebounds, while Ty Henry (16) and Nick Whittick (14) reached double figures as well.

Baker started off on fire from three-point range with Whittick burying back-to-back threes to begin the game and Rigatuso making it three straight to give BU a quick 9-5 lead.

Rigatuso and Keynan Russell combined for a couple of buckets midway through the first half before the Wildcats hit a bit of a dry spell from the field.

Trailing by four, Lennox provided a huge lift to get the offense going, scoring 12 straight points, including a nice backdoor play off a pass from Rigatuso to make it a 35-33 lead for BU with less than five minutes left in the half.

Whittick drained his third 3-pointer of the half to push Baker back in front, but the Yellowjackets used a trey of their own to go into the break leading, 46-43.

Layups by Rigatuso and Henry followed by a runout steal from Ahmed Mahgoub got the Wildcats going in the second half before Graceland started to build a slight lead. A three by Lennox tied things up at 55-55 with 12 minutes left before Russell put BU back on top with an easy layup.

Back-to-back threes from Rigatuso and Whittick triggered what would be the largest lead for either side with the Wildcats jumping out in front, 69-62 with 6:43 left in regulation. The Yellowjackets fired back with an 11-0 run to reclaim the lead and had a free throw make it a three-point advantage for them with just over two minutes left to play.

Rigatuso got a runner in the lane to fall and a couple of free throws from Whittick made it a one-point deficit before Mahgoub was fouled with 20 seconds left. His free throw knotted the game at 76-76 and served as the final point of regulation as neither team was able to get a shot up in their final possessions.

In overtime, Graceland took a three-point lead with less than three minutes left, but Henry flushed home a jam and followed with a huge jumper after a couple of Rigatuso free throws to put Baker in front by three at 83-80.

GU scored back-to-back buckets to take a one-point lead with 10 seconds left before Lennox came through with his heroic three-point play to seal the game for BU at 86-84.

With the result, the Wildcats also earned the conference's automatic bid to the NAIA Tournament, ensuring a third-straight postseason appearance for BU. This will mark the first time in program history that the Wildcats have gone to three consecutive NAIA tournaments.

For head coach Sean Dooley, the win marks his 197th career victory at Baker with three straight 20-win seasons during the recent run.

Baker will close out the regular season at home with back-to-back games in the Collins Center next week, starting with a matchup against Benedictine on Wednesday, February 19 at 7:30 p.m. in Baldwin City.

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