Wildcats’ Second-Half Rally Comes Up Short on the Road at Park

PARKVILLE, Mo. - After completing a 22-point comeback on Saturday, Baker men's basketball couldn't pull out another late turnaround in its conference road matchup at Park, falling to the Pirates, 97-91 on Wednesday night.

The Wildcats trailed by as much as 19 points in the second half, but cut it to a seven-point game with seven minutes left to play before their rally cooled off by a string of Pirates threes. Fending off a couple of late charges from BU, Park held on to come out on top of a high-scoring Heart matchup.

Baker posted its best shooting night of the season, hitting season-high marks in field-goal percentage (51 percent) and 3-pointers (14) for the Wildcats' highest-scoring outing of the year. Park held a significant advantage at the line, going 27-for-37, while BU made 15 of its 25 free throws.

Cam Jones and Alex Gunnels each recorded double-double efforts with Jones tallying a team-high 25 points and 15 rebounds, while Gunnels had 11 points and a season-high 15 assists. Jimmy Dorsey (19), Carter Trumbore (17) and Myles Tucker (11) each reached double-figures in scoring with the trio combining for 12 of BU's 14 threes in the game.

A trey from Trumbore pulled Baker within one after Park jumped out to an initial lead in the first few minutes. KJ Odour snapped a five-minute cold stretch for BU and Dorsey's first three of the night halted another drought and cut into the Pirates' lead at 25-19.

Trumbore splashed in another three and Jones provided key points to keep BU close, but Park finished off 12-of-14 at the line in the first half and used a last-second jam to take a 47-33 lead at halftime.

In the second half, Jones scored the first seven points for Baker before the Pirates earned their biggest lead of the night, going up 62-43 at the 15:47 mark. Lucas Lyons converted a layup on a pass from Trumbore as BU started to fight its way back.

Dorsey chipped in points and back-to-back threes from Tucker and Gunnels pulled Baker back within single digits at 69-60. The Pirates landed three devastating blows from three-point range to keep the Wildcats at arm's length down the pivotal stretch of the game.

After falling behind by double-digits again, Baker went on an 11-2 surge to make things interesting late and trim Park's lead to 93-88 with 29 seconds left to play. The Pirates held on from there to earn their first win of the conference season.

Baker continues the early road swing to start Heart action, traveling to Marshall, Mo., to take on Missouri Valley on Saturday, Nov. 22, at 7:30 p.m.

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