Park University's men's basketball program had a hard-fought battle with Baker on Wednesday, defeating the Wildcats, 73-66.
Park evens up the season series with the Wildcats, as both squads won on their home court.
The Pirates are up to 8-11 on the season and 6-9 in the Heart of America Athletic Conference, currently sitting at ninth in the standings. The Wildcats are fourth in the Heart and sport 14-6 and 12-4 respective records.
There were four ties in the first half of this game and neither side gained much separation in the early going. After a 6-6 tie through the first 2:35 of the game, the Wildcats went on a 6-2 run to lead by four points, 12-8 with 14:34 on the clock.
AJ Watson cut into the lead with a made three-pointer. After Baker answered with a two-point bucket, it was
Jasigha Barnes' turn to splash a three for the tie. The very next play to Barnes turned the lead back to Park with a layup in transition at 11:00, 16-14. This was just the start of a 10-0 run that gave the Pirates their largest lead of the half of seven points, 21-14 with 7:46 to go. Within that half defining run,
Christian Bradford tacked on a two-point bucket followed by
Gagi Gvalia's three-pointer to pour it on. In the remaining minutes of the half both sides fought to keep the status quo, as Park went to the locker room holding a 33-29 lead.
The Wildcats fired a 6-0 scoring run to begin the second half and led the game 35-33, but
DeMarcus Hudson had other plans with a made jumper for the tie, and then his teammate Barnes bolstered the Pirates with another layup and made three-pointer. For the game he was second in scoring for Park and had 14 points. He was on tonight's Pirate Post-Game interview following the evening's festivities.
Baker was able to keep it close but with 14:25 on the clock a 4-0 run gave them their final lead of the game, 43-42. These two teams gave it all they had on the court and it was looking like it would be possible overtime with a 48-48 tie game with 12:30 to go. Three Baker turnovers in the next two minutes opened up the door for the Pirates' Hudson to go on a 5-0 scoring spree to give the Pirates a 53-48 lead with 9:57 remaining. The turning point in the game came off of a technical foul on Baker, allowing Hudson to sink two free-throws and then Gvalia tacked on an additional four points for an 8-point lead at 7:22, 59-51. The counter never came from the Wildcats, as the Pirates led by as much as nine points after two
AJ Watson free-throws at 3:41 to go up 63-54. The Wildcats were given some life by Noah Rigatuso, who helped the Wildcats to a 4-0 run to come within five points, 63-58 with 3:00 remaining. A key down the stretch was hitting free-throws, the Pirates were a perfect 10-of-10 within the last three minutes to fend off the Wildcats in the closing moments for the 73-66 win.
Both teams had 18 made free-throws on the night, but the Pirates were at 86-percent on 18-of-21, while the Wildcats were only 18-of-32 for 56-percent.
From the field, both teams were near even, 44-percent for Park and 43-percent from the Wildcats. The real difference came in three-point field-goals though as Park was an average five-of-17, but Baker barely scraped by at two-of-16.
Each team had 19 turnovers, but the Pirates were more successful at translating those to points with 21 points off turnovers compared to 13 for the Wildcats.
For the game there were seven ties and eight lead changes.
Hudson led the Pirates' offense with 23 points with four rebounds, while Barnes and Watson were in double-figures with 14 and 11-point nights. Both Watson and Barnes looked to make the players around them successful with five assists apiece.
Worthy of praise was Watson's perfect night from the strike at eight-of-eight, including some of those key free-throws in the final minutes of this game.
Park will travel to Lamoni, Iowa for a road matchup with Graceland University at 4pm on Saturday, January 27.
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