Wildcats Fall to Central Methodist at Home, 93-82

BALDWIN CITY, Kan. – Baker men's basketball ran into a red-hot Central Methodist team that shot over 50 percent from both the field and the three-point line in the first half as the Wildcats suffered a 93-82 setback on Saturday.

Jalen Patterson paced the Wildcats in scoring with 18 points, but BU got a big lift from its bench where they boasted a 35-3 advantage over the Eagles. Noah Rigatuso finished with 14 points and five rebounds and sharp-shooter Braden Griffiths went 3-for-5 from deep for his nine points. Quentin Harvey recorded 14 points to go along with his eight boards.

Baker delivered a highlight-reel moment in the early going as Justin Batts II found a streaking Korey Jones for a fast break alley-oop. The two teams traded baskets for the first 10 minutes with a three from Griffiths putting the Wildcats ahead 16-13 at the 11:32 mark.

Later in the half, the Eagles snagged the lead back and extended it to four points on an Everett Stubblefield three-pointer before Patterson drained a baseline jumper to pull the Wildcats back within a possession. Stubblefield led CMU with 34 points, including a 22-point performance in the first half.

After seeing the score tied at 24-all, CMU rattled off a 14-4 run to create some cushion heading into the final minutes of the first half. Griffiths drilled another three to get BU within single digits, but the Eagles countered with a three of their own to push it back out to 45-35.

With two minutes left, Griffiths added his third three of the half and Patterson knocked down another shot to make it a five-point ballgame. But the Eagles' hot-shooting continued to propel them ahead as they scored eight unanswered points to carry a 53-40 lead into the break.

The CMU scoring stretch extended into the second half with the Eagles using an 8-2 spurt to force a BU timeout. A Central Methodist three increased its lead to 75-51 with 13:07 left in the game, but the Wildcats looked to get a lift from another bench player as Ty Henry converted an old-fashioned three-point play.

Heading into the final 10 minutes of the game, Baker began to rally by going on a 15-6 run with Patterson and Harvey combining for 10 of the points during that stretch. The Wildcats continued to chip away at the CMU lead with a Joshua Kelly layup cutting the deficit to 10 points at 90-80 with 2:36 remaining in the game.

The comeback bid fell short from there as the Eagles swiped a 93-82 result to give Baker its fourth conference loss of the season.

Baker falls to 14-5 overall and 9-4 in Heart play this season. The Wildcats head to Marshall, Mo. on Wednesday, Jan. 25 to face the Vikings at 7:30 p.m.

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