Dooley, Scheer Earn Coach of the Year Awards, Seven Wildcats Named to All-Heart Teams
BALDWIN CITY - After clinching their first conference title in over 35 years, the Baker men's basketball team was recognized with a slew of honors - including both Coach of the Year awards - as the league announced its 2025 Heart of America Athletic Conference Men's Basketball All-Conference teams and individual awards on Thursday afternoon.
Less than 24 hours after earning his 200th career win, head coach Sean Dooley was named Heart Coach of the Year and was joined in the spotlight by assistant coach Trent Scheer, who was selected as the Heart Assistant Coach of the Year.
The BU coaching staff led the Wildcats to a 26-3 overall record and a 22-2 mark in conference play with both win totals setting a program record. In his 13 seasons at Baker, Dooley has gone 200-181 overall with three straight 20-win campaigns. Scheer is in his third year coaching on the sidelines after playing for Dooley and the Wildcats from 2018-2021.
As the Heart's regular-season champions, Baker boasted four of the 10 spots on the All-Heart First Team with Quentin Harvey (Sr., Tulsa, Okla.), Ty Henry (Jr., Topeka, Kan.), Ahmed Mahgoub (Sr., Kansas City, Mo.) and Noah Rigatuso (Sr., Omaha, Neb.) all landing on the postseason list. Kaimen Lennox (Gr., Independence, Mo.) earned a spot on the All-Heart Third Team.
After leading the league in fewest points allowed per game (66.3), the Wildcats had three players selected to the Heart's All-Defensive Team with Mahgoub joining teammates Korey Jones (Sr., Dallas, Texas) and Nick Whittick (Sr., West Palm Beach, Fla.) in receiving the defensive honor.
It marks the third straight first-team designation for Harvey, who was first team all-conference in 2022-23 and 2023-24, while Rigatuso
Harvey and Rigatuso returned as first-team selections after both players were named to last year's All-Heart First Team and became the third consecutive first-team nod for Harvey, who earned the honor in his first season at BU in 2022-23. Rigatuso was selected to the second team in 2022-23.
The frontcourt duo each eclipsed 1,000 career points this year and led Baker in scoring with Rigatuso averaging 15.8 points per game, while Harvey followed close behind at 13.5. Rigatuso reached double digits in all but four of the games he started in this year and scored at least 20 points in nine games. Harvey broke the school's three-point record with eight 3-pointers and a season-high 32 points against Clarke back in November.
As a second-team honoree last season, Henry moved up a spot after leading the team in free throw percentage (88.9%) and minutes played (29.3 mpg), starting every game this year besides the last two after suffering an injury in the second-to-last game of the regular season.
Starting in all but two games this year, Mahgoub was named Heart Defensive Player of the Week twice this season while finishing with over 135 rebounds for the second straight year (151). He led the squad in blocks with 20 and tied Whittick for the team lead in steals with 44.
In his first year at BU since transferring from Wayne State, Lennox led the Wildcats in three-point percentage with a 29-for-61 mark from beyond the arc. He totaled a season-high 22 points in a pivotal matchup at Graceland earlier this month when BU clinched the conference regular-season title.
Jones earned a spot on the All-Defensive Team for the second straight season after putting together an impressive all-around campaign with 86 rebounds, 33 steals and 11 blocks in 2024-25. Whittick fell a rebound short of 100 for the year and matched Mahgoub with a team-best 44 steals, while receiving a Heart Defensive Player of the Week honor a couple of weeks ago.
Advancing to the conference semifinals for the third straight year, top seed Baker will host No. 4 seed MidAmerica Nazarene in the Heart Semifinals on Saturday, March 1 at 7 p.m. in the Collins Center.
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