After missing out on the HAAC postseason tournament last year, the Baker University men’s basketball team has qualified for the tournament with Saturday’s 61-53 win over Missouri Valley College.
“It was a huge win for us, especially coming off of last year, since we didn’t get into the playoffs,” sophomore Corey Anderson said. “We know for a fact that we are in the playoffs, so that’s a pretty big rock off our shoulders.”
Baker’s win over the Vikings extended the Wildcats’ home winning streak to five games. Leading the Wildcats was senior Jaris Wommack, who tallied 29 points and hauled in 11 rebounds.
“I thought that Jaris was really good offensively,” head coach Brett Ballard said. “Jaris had 11 rebounds, too. He was good all around. He really mixed up how he scored by getting to the (free throw) line, hitting some pull-up jumpers and made a couple of (3-pointers).”
Baker has secured a spot in the playoffs, but still has a lot to play for in terms of seeding purposes. BU could be as a high the fifth seed and as low as the eighth seed, depending on the results of Thursday’s game against MidAmerica Nazarene University and Saturday’s game against Graceland University.
“We still have a lot to play for,” Ballard said. “Most importantly is the next game coming up. We have (MidAmerica) Nazarene on Thursday … and then Saturday is senior day.”
BU defeated MidAmerica Nazarene University 81-71 Jan. 20 in Collins Center to begin its five-game home winning streak. Ballard knew going into Thursday’s game that winning at MidAmerica would be no easy feat.
Baker is guaranteed to play on the road in the first round of the HAAC tournament.
As of Wednesday, the team had lost four straight games on the road, but members of the team are confident they can get a road win in the playoffs.
On Feb. 17, BU fell to No. 17 William Jewell College 59-57 in Liberty, Mo., but junior Joe Wachter was still pleased with the team’s effort.
“I think overall, we were pretty pleased with our performance,” Wachter said. “We just had a couple of miscues late in the game that unfortunately cost us the game. I felt that our level of competitiveness was as high as it had been all year. “
BU’s last game of the regular season is senior day against Graceland at 4 p.m. Saturday in Collins Center.