Men's Basketball Falls to Peru State on Senior Day, 95-93

BALDWIN CITY, Kan. – Finishing off the regular season on Saturday evening, the Baker men's basketball fell to Peru State by a score of 95-93 and will be the No. 4 seed in the 2023 Heart of America Men's Basketball Tournament.

Prior to the game, the Wildcats recognized five seniors. Those seniors include Braden Wiggs, Jalen Patterson, Joshua Kelly, Brock Hollingsworth and Justin Batts II.

In the game, Baker was led in scoring by Quentin Harvey who scored 24 points, while Joshua Kelly added 16 in his first start of the season. Noah Rigatuso added 15 points in the game and Braden Wiggs also reached double figures with 11 points.

Jalen Patterson scored nine points in the game and is now just seven points shy of sixth place in all-time scoring at Baker University. Along with his nine points, Patterson dished out six assists while Batts II and Kelly added five and four assists respectively.

Baker led 7-4 early in the game, but then they turned up the pressure on both ends of the floor, holding Peru State without a field goal for the next three minutes, while they scored 14 points of their own to hold s 21-7 lead.

With just over eight minutes left to go in the first half, the Bobcats had cut the lead down to four, and eventually tied the game at 37 with 3:38 to play in the half. After Peru State gained the lead and stretched it to 49-41, a three-pointer right before the half from Braden Griffiths sent the teams to the locker room with Baker trailing 49-44.

Baker come out firing again in the second half and almost four minutes in, a jumper by Harvey gave Baker the lead once again, 54-52. Midway through the second half Peru State held onto a 10-point lead, but with 1:56 left in the game, the Wildcats trailed, 86-79.

Two made free throws from Peru State extended their lead back to 94-87, but Baker's Justin Batts II hit a huge three and brought the lead to within four, 94-90. After a timeout, the Wildcats got a steal and Joshua Kelly hit another three and Baker trailed by just one point with four seconds remaining.

Peru State made just one free throw on the other end, but the Wildcats could not come away with a shot in the final possession as they lost to Peru State, 95-93.

The Wildcats finish the regular season with an overall record of 21-7 and 16-6 in Heart of America play. They will be the No. 4 seed in the Heart of America Conference Tournament and will host No. 5 MidAmerica Nazarene at 7 p.m., on Thursday, Feb. 23, inside the Collins Center.

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