Jones’ 20-Point Outing Pushes No. 12 Baker Past Clarke, 85-63

BALDWIN CITY - Senior guard Korey Jones scored a career-high 20 points to lift No. 12 Baker to its second landslide victory of the week with an 85-63 win over Clarke on Saturday afternoon in the Collins Center.

The Wildcats totaled over 40 points in each half and survived an initial burst from the Pride to hold them to 43 points over the final 30 minutes. It was the second time this week that BU won by more than 20 points after a 70-47 drubbing at Benedictine on Wednesday.

Jones' 20 points paced a Wildcats squad that had nine different players score in the game with Noah Rigatuso (18) and Quentin Harvey (11) reaching double-digit scoring as well. Nick Whittick marked a season-high in assists, dishing out 10 dimes to go along with his six points.

It took all of two seconds for Baker to get on the scoreboard first with Rigatuso scoring off the opening tip, while Harvey and Ahmed Mahgoub followed with a couple of threes to give BU a quick lead.

The Pride responded with a couple of threes of their own and took a 17-12 advantage on their third three of the first six minutes. A steal by Kaimen Lennox resulted in a breakaway layup for Jones, but it wasn't until a basket from Whittick with 7:35 left in the first half that pushed Baker back in front at 22-20.

Harvey connected on back-to-back shots and a jumper from Rigatuso gave the Wildcats their first double-digit lead of the game. The two teams traded buckets for the rest of the half, including a three by Jones with 14 seconds left which was canceled out by a buzzer-beating three from the Pride as the halftime score settled at 41-31 in favor of BU.

Just like the start of the game, it was Rigatuso scoring on the very first play of the half after an excellent set play out of the break ended with him finishing off an alley-oop pass from Whittick. Ty Henry splashed in a three and Harvey added another BU slam a little bit later to extend Baker's lead out to 15 points.

Jones started to heat up from deep, draining a pair of threes to keep the Wildcats near a 20-point advantage. Henry and Cason Richardson added to the fun with back-to-back treys with Richardson's making it a 70-50 lead for BU with under eight minutes left to play.

Rigatuso converted a three-point play and added another breakaway dunk after picking off a Pride pass. Jones' fourth and final three of the game put Baker on top, 82-60 and the Wildcats cruised from there to come away with their 12th straight victory and stay perfect in conference play with a 12-0 record.

With its only loss of the season coming on the road at No. 22 Florida Memorial, Baker opens up a stretch that features five of its next six games away from Baldwin City, beginning with a game at Missouri Valley on Wednesday, Jan. 15 at 7:30 p.m. in Marshall, Mo.

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