The Wildcats split Valentine’s Day weekend with a 53-49 loss to the No. 11 Benedictine College Ravens on Feb. 12 then an 85-71 win against the Culver-Stockton College Wildcats on Feb. 14. The Wildcats now sit in ninth place in the Heart of America Athletic Conference at 9-15 overall and 3-11 in conference play.

On Thursday at Atchison, the ‘Cats fought hard but were not able to overcome the Raven’s 53.3 field goal percentage.

Senior guard EJ Carter chipped in with a game-high 20 points along with 5 rebounds in the Wildcats’ efforts.

“I was just being aggressive,” Carter said. “I kept attacking and getting to the free-throw line, and after that it was free lunch.”

Carter went 100 percent from the free-throw line hitting all 8 of his attempts. Freshman Gregg Easter also went 100 percent from the charity stripe cashing in on 3 of his 9 points from the line along with 2 steals to add to his stat line. Senior guard Jared Fulks contributed 9 points of his own.

With the win, Benedictine improved to 20-5 on the year and 9-4 in conference play.

The ‘Cats had a chance at redemption on Saturday against Culver-Stockton in Baldwin City, and they cashed in on the opportunity. The last time these teams met Baker led by 17 points in the second half, but Culver-Stockton came back to win 64-61 in the final seconds.

in Saturday’s rematch, the ‘Cats shot 53 percent from the field, 74 percent from the free-throw line and 40 percent from behind the arc. On top of the Baker men’s shooting efficiency, they outrebounded Culver-Stockton 41-20 while grabbing 13 total offensive boards.

Several Baker Wildcats had impressive games including sophomore guard Javeion Gray, who had 17 points, 10 rebounds and 2 steals.

“It was just a good game all around,” Gray said. “Everything was just working for us. We were just playing ball and we walked away with a good win.”

Three other Baker men scored in double digits in the win against Culver-Stockton. Junior forward Manuel Barnes scored a career-high 18 points and grabbed 7 rebounds. Freshman Gregg Easter had 14 points of his own, and freshman Daniel Young had 10 points with 6 rebounds.

The Wildcats are hoping to leave January’s misery in the past and move forward with a better month of February as they look forward to the conference tournament in March.

The Baker men will face off against Avila University at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday in Kansas City, Missouri, as they look to get another conference win on the road against a beatable opponent.

Then the team comes back home to play the top team in the conference, the Evangel Crusaders, on Saturday at 4 p.m. in the Collins Center.