Tucker, Jones Fuel Wildcats’ Big Road Win at (RV) MNU

OLATHE, Kan. - Backed by a combined 45 points from Myles Tucker and Cam Jones, Baker men's basketball earned an 82-77 victory on the road at (RV) MidAmerica Nazarene on Tuesday night.

In the final game of a three-game road stretch, the Wildcats faced a back-and-forth battle in Olathe before pulling away in the last five minutes for their second conference win of the season.

Baker turned in an excellent shooting night from everywhere except the charity stripe, going 50 percent from the floor (28-for-55), three-point range (12-for-24) and, unfortunately, on free throws (14-for-30).

Tucker marked his fourth outing with at least 20 points, scoring a team-high 23 points, while Jones followed right behind with 22 points and nine rebounds. Alex Gunnels had 13 points, five assists, two steals and a block.

MNU opened the contest with three straight triples to prompt an early timeout from Baker head coach Sean Dooley, which resulted in back-to-back threes from BU to counter the Pioneers' early run. Tucker's second 3-pointer pushed the Wildcats in front, 13-11.

BU reeled off a 12-3 stretch to build its lead out to seven points with treys from Jones, Gunnels and Carter Trumbore fueling the surge. The Pioneers worked their way back to get within three, but a set of threes from Tucker and Trumbore made it an eight-point game heading into the final minutes of the half.

The Pioneers held BU scoreless for the last 2:31 and made the last run of the opening stanza to send the game into halftime with the score tied at 39-39.

Both teams came out hot out of the intermission, tallying a combined 13 points in the first 98 seconds before things settled at another deadlock at 51-51. MNU held onto a small lead for a stretch for the first time since the first half before the Wildcats jumped back in front at the 10-minute mark.

The two sides continued to trade punches with Jones' third and final three of the night getting matched by an MNU triple. A breakaway layup from Gunnels sparked a key 11-4 run for BU, with a three by Jimmy Dorsey punctuating the rally to give Baker a 75-68 lead with 2:19 left to play.

MNU never got within less than five points the rest of the way as the Wildcats overcame their free-throw struggles and sank enough clutch ones late to seal the game at 82-77.

With the victory, the Wildcats earned their fourth straight win against the Pioneers after going 3-for-3 against them last year, including a victory in the quarterfinals of the Heart Conference Tournament.

After four straight games against Heart teams, Baker will hop out of conference play and head to the Hampton Inn Thanksgiving Classic, hosted by No. 22 Columbia, this weekend in Columbia, Mo. BU will face the host Cougars on Friday, Nov. 28 at 7 p.m. before closing out the tournament against Hannibal-LaGrange on Saturday, Nov. 29 at 1 p.m.

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