Men’s Basketball Stopped by Baker in the Heart Semifinal in Overtime

Baldwin City, Kan. - The Graceland University Men's Basketball team took on the Baker University Wildcats. The Yellowjackets were defeated by the Wildcats, 74-73 in overtime. Graceland closes their season with an overall record of 21-8 and 17-7 in the Heart.

Graceland (21-9, 17-7) | Baker (22-8, 18-6)
Half 1: Graceland 32 | Baker 30
Aleksa Markovic and Carson Busch would open the game to put five on the board. Akeen Woods would follow with back-to-back layups (9-4). Markovic and Austin Braun both drained a three-point charity stripe. The Wildcats would work to close their deficit to three, and a jumper by Darrius Davis would break their run (20-15). Woods and Amitai Afenjar would put up jumpers to push the Yellowjackets to lead by six points (24-19). In the last five minutes of play, both teams would trade baskets, and Graceland would see baskets from Patrick Fisher, Amitai, and Woods. Braun would close the first half from the line to give the Yellowjackets the advantage heading into halftime with a score of 32-30.

Half 2: Graceland 34| Baker 36
Baker opened the second half by draining a three-pointer to take the one-point lead, followed by charity stripes (35-32). Akeen Woods (free-throw) and an Austin Braun Three would trade the lead (36-35). The Wildcats found two, and a Patrick Fisher layup would break the run for a one-point lead (38-37). Both teams would trade the one-point lead. Fisher would add his own 5-2 run with a layup and from the deep (45-43). The Wildcats would work in an eight-point lead (58-50). Aleksa Markovic would drain a layup, followed by Woods and a Carter Brown three-pointer to bring the Graceland deficit to one point (58-57). Brown would even the score from the arches (60-60). The Wildcats would make a late jumper to even the score 66-66, sending the game to overtime.

Overtime: Graceland 7 | Baker 8
Baker would sink an early layup (68-66). Austin Braun worked around the defense to sink a jumper to deadlock the score. Back-to-back free throws from Baker would push a four-point lead over the Yellowjackets (72-68). Akeen Woods would bring the score to a two-point difference (72-70). With less than 30 seconds on the clock, Aleksa Markovic sunk a three from the top of the arches, taking a one-point lead, 73-72. With one final possession from Baker with .06 on the clock, the Wildcats' jumper would fall, ending the game 74-73.

By the numbers:
27-28– The Yellowjackets had 27 field goals and the Wildcats sank 28 field goals
8-8 – Graceland and Baker had eight three-pointer
19-18 – The Yellowjackets one had more bench points than the Wildcats
34-35 – Graceland rebounds compared Baker
11-10 – The Yellowjacket had one more made charity stripe compared to the Wildcats

Graceland Leaders:
Scoring Leader: Akeen Woods – 15
Rebounding Leader: Patrick Fisher – 7
Assist Leader: Patrick Fisher – 8
Steal Leader: Patrick Fisher / Carter Brown – 1

Baker Leaders:
Scoring Leader: Quentin Harvey – 25
Rebounding Leader: Dylan Smith – 8
Assist Leader: Dylan Smith – 4
Steal Leader: Ahmed Mahgoub – 1

-Yellowjackets-