Baker University men’s basketball coach Sean Dooley earned his first win as a Wildcat Tuesday after a 65-50 victory against Haskell Indian Nations University in Collins Center.

The win over the Indians improved the Wildcats’ record to 1-1 on the season, and Dooley believed it was important for the team after dropping its home opener to Hastings College Saturday.

“After the first game, I thought we played hard and defended well, but we just kind of shot ourselves in the foot with some carelessness and turnovers,” Dooley said. ” It wasn’t perfect today. We kind of had to grind some stuff out, but we took care of the ball and we played pretty smart there at the end. Ben (Steinlage) got going for us and we were smart enough to know, ‘let’s keep going to him.'”

Steinlage led BU with 13 points and six rebounds, as he was the lone Wildcat in double figures. The Wildcats shot 45 percent from the field, while the Indians made 34 percent of their shots.

Baker forced 28 turnovers by the Indians, while the Wildcats only committed 17. BU also had more than twice as many assists than the Indians, by delivering 13 dimes to Haskell’s six.

“(Defense) is something we are really going to hang our hat on all year,” Dooley said. “This is two games in a row where we have forced upward of 20 turnovers, so if you can do that, then you should have a chance every night.”

After playing the first two games of the season in Collins Center, the Wildcats will play their first two road contests in the KCAC/HAAC Classic Friday and Saturday in Ottawa. Baker ‘s first game will be against the University of St. Mary at 12:30 p.m. Friday.

“St. Mary’s is a really good team that will probably be as good of an offensive team that we’ll see all year,” Dooley said. “They really shoot the ball well from the outside, so they’ll put a lot of pressure on us defensively and it will be a true test. If we can hold them to under 50 points, that would be an amazing effort.”

The Wildcats’ second game of the KCAC/HAAC Classic will be against the host school, Ottawa University, at 3 p.m. Saturday.