Former Lawrence High basketball standout D.J. Watkins loves coming back to Lawrence to play in front of his family and friends.
The rest of his Baker teammates love watching him come back, too.
Watkins scored a game-high 28 points in his return to Lawrence to lead Baker to a season-opening 88-75 victory Wednesday over Haskell at Coffin Complex.
"I was just trying to play within the framework of the offense," Watkins said of his performance. "I have been working a lot on my shot, and things just felt good tonight. Playing in Lawrence is always fun, and that helped. I think this is going to be a break-out year for both me and Baker."
Watkins went 9-for-11 from the field, including 5-for-6 from behind the three-point line.
Twelve of his 28 points came in the final 10 minutes, helping Baker pull away from a feisty Haskell team that refused to give up.
Early, it looked as if it were going to be a blowout when Baker went ahead 30-13 with only six minutes left in the first half.
Turnovers on four of their next five possessions hurt the Wildcats, though, as Haskell rallied.
The Fightin' Indians used the turnovers to put together an impressive 14-6 run, capped by a Chad Kaler lay-up.
After trading baskets for the last two minutes of the half, Haskell trailed 41-30 at the break.
"This team is pretty resilient, and I knew we were going to come back," Haskell coach Jamie Morrison said. "Putting ourselves in the big hole sure didn't help. We had a lot of early jitters and mistakes, and we just couldn't put the ball in the basket."
Back-to-back jumpers by Brandon Smith capped a 6-0 run for the Indians to start the second half, cutting the deficit to 41-36.
Haskell finally tied the game for the first time since it was 4-all when Ben Carrywater hit two free throws with 12:44 left.
Haskell momentarily took the lead at 53-52 on a three-pointer from Kaler, but it was short-lived as Baker rolled off a 17-6 run to regain control at 69-59 with just over six minutes remaining.
Baker kept a comfortable lead the rest of the way by going 15-for-19 from the free-throw line in the second half.
"Haskell did a great job tonight," Baker coach Rick Weaver said. "We got that big lead early, but they came back and scrapped."
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