Wildcats Earn Fifth Straight Win With Massive 86-83 Win Over MidAmerica Nazarene

BALDWIN CITY, Kan. – In front of an incredible crowd, the Baker men's basketball team picked up their fifth straight win on Wednesday evening, defeating MidAmerica Nazarene, 86-83.

Braden Wiggs was key on both ends of the floor on Wednesday, scoring 23 points on 9-of-13 shooting to set a new career-high, while also pulling down eight rebounds. Baker's second highest scorer was Noah Rigatuso who added 20 points, marking his third 20-point outing of his Baker career. Rigatuso also pulled down nine rebounds in the game.

Quentin Harvey and Jalen Patterson also reached double figures on the night, scoring 16 and 12 points respectively, while Harvey also led the team with 10 rebounds for his sixth double-double of the season.

Early in the game, the Wildcats were able to hold a slim lead, but MidAmerica quickly responded and took over the lead at 14-13 with 12:25 to play in the first half. After Baker regained the lead at 25-24 on a bucket from Patterson, MNU went on a fast 12-0 run over the next two minutes, regaining the lead, 36-25 with just over five minutes until halftime.

After a Korey Jones three ended the run by the Pioneers, Baker went on a big run of their own towards the end of the half, scoring 13 unanswered points to regain the lead, 38-36. Both teams would trade buckets for the rest of the half and head into the locker room tied at 40.

Holding the Pioneers without a field goal for the first two minutes of the second half, Baker took the lead once again early in the half. Baker held off a few runs by the Pioneers, but with 13:59 to play, MNU was able to regain the lead, 57-56.

The lead changed five times over the next five minutes until buckets from Wiggs and Rigatuso extended the Wildcat lead to 67-63 with just over 10 minutes to play. Baker continued to add to that lead as Rigatuso knocked down a huge three and forced MNU to take a timeout trailing 72-63.

After a stop coming out of the timeout, Braden Griffiths knocked down another three for Baker as the Wildcats led, 75-63. Not going down without a fight, the Pioneers fought their way back once again and was able to cut the lead to just 75-73 with 4:34 left in the game.

With the Wildcats leading by just one point with 48 seconds to go, two free throws from Wiggs and three more from Harvey with under 10 seconds to go put the game away and gave the Wildcats the win, 86-83.

With the win, Baker is now 19-5 on the season and 14-4 in Heart of America play. They currently sit in second place in the Heart of America Conference standings. They will be back in action on Saturday, Feb. 11, when they travel to Lamoni, Iowa, to take on Graceland at 4 p.m.

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