Baldwin City, Kan.  - The Central Methodist Men's Basketball team could not overcome a hot-shooting Wildcat team in the first half of Wednesday night's crucial Heart showdown in Baldwin City, Kansas. 

The Eagles fell to Baker by the score of 80-67. Central now stands at 17-4 and 13-4 in the Heart of America, while BU improves to 16-6 and 14-4 in conference play. The teams split the regular season series with Wednesday night's result. 

The first basket of the game came from Central's Peter Turay in the opening 20 seconds of the first half. That was Central's only lead of the game, as Baker was firing on all cylinders offensively in the first. 

The Wildcats knocked down 22 field goals on 33 attempts for a staggering 66.7 percent shooting. The 22 makes were highlighted by eight three-point baskets, putting the Wildcats comfortably ahead of the Eagles at halftime.

CMU began chipping away at the lead in the second half, shooting over 53 percent from the floor compared to 27.6 percent for Baker. 

However, the first-half deficit proved too much to overcome, as the Eagles could only get within 13 points at the end of the game. 

TreVon Smith led Central's scoring attack with 19 points while both Isaiah May and Trent Lyles each recorded 10 points to round out the double-digit scorers for CMU. May also led the rebounding efforts for Central with eight boards, followed by Trey Sinegal with six. 

Baker won the battle of the boards, outrebounding CMU 42-35. Central's defense forced 16 Wildcat turnovers and 22 of the Eagles' points came courtesy of their bench. 

Central will look to bounce back when they face Peru State College on Saturday, Feb. 3 at 4:00 p.m. in Peru, Nebraska. 

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