After a nail-biting last minute, the Baker University men’s basketball team defeated Ottawa University for the second time in as many weeks.
Senior D.J. Watkins threw up a last-second pull-up jumper and put the ‘Cats up 74-73 in the last seconds of Monday’s game.
“We were all really confident the whole time that we could win,” Watkins said. “It was a real team effort; it just happens that I had the ball at the end.”
Down by nine with five minutes left in the second half, the ‘Cats began chiseling their way back into the game by causing turnovers on the defensive end of the court.
Senior Nate Pedrow stepped up after suffering an ankle injury early in the game and finished the game with 17 points, many of which he put up during the last few minutes.
Watkins said much of the team’s success could be attributed to its quickness in all positions.
“By the end of the game Ottawa was really tired because we full-court pressed and played up-tempo style of basketball, which wore them down,” Watkins said.
With the ‘Cats go-to three-point shooter Greg Allen being guarded heavily, junior Andy Hannon stepped up with 11 points, while junior Taylor Parker put up nine.
Head coach Rick Weaver said the team started the game with a few mental mistakes, but was able to make up for them in the second half.
“It was a hard-fought game against a good team on their court,” Weaver said. “We did a nice job offensively to start the game, but had some careless passes and missed layups to give Ottawa the lead at the half.”
The ‘Cats traveled to McPherson College last weekend for the McPherson Classic. Friday the ‘Cats took home another win after beating Bethel College 84-72. Five players scored double digits, and Pedrow led all scorers with 18 points. Allen was right behind him with 12 points, hitting four for 10 from the three-point line.
“The guys did a decent overall job at both ends of the court and managed to build a 10-12 point margin late to win the game,” Weaver said. “Our depth was a factor, but we had a few too many turnovers for the ballgame.”
Saturday’s game against McPherson brought a sweeping victory of 81-41. Pedrow once again led all scorers with 17 points, with Watkins on his heels scoring 16.
Watkins said this game showed the ‘Cats’ potential as a good defensive team.
“We played better than we have the whole year in terms of defense,” Watkins said. “Concentrating on defense was a priority for the weekend, and we finally put a full game together. A lot of different people stepped up and played well; it was a team effort.”
The Wildcats traveled to the University of Missouri – Kansas City Wednesday. The results of the game were unavailable at press time.
Baker’s next game will be at 4 p.m. Saturday at Avila University.