Cougars finish 2-1 in Booster Club Classic; Shoot-Out next

Cougars finish 2-1 in Booster Club Classic; Shoot-Out next
The Barton County Community College men's basketball team completed the Walnut Bowl/Cougar Booster Club Thanksgiving Classic with a 2-1 mark this past weekend, falling only to No. 15 Iowa Western for Barton's lone home loss this season. The Cougars sandwiched the loss with wins over Western Wyoming and Westchester (NY) to improve to 5-5 for the season. Barton will now turn focus to the annual Jayhawk Shoot-Out in Coffeyville this weekend. The Cougars are slated to play host Coffeyville and Cowley County – the top two teams in the East from the Coaches Poll prior to the season.

Highlights
Barton capped off the Classic with its most thrilling home contest of the season. The Cougars won an overtime affair from Westchester, 88-85. The Cougars and Westcos (2-2) battled back and forth in the contest, trading the lead 17 times and finding themselves tied 11 times. The final time the contest was tied was at the end of regulation, thanks to the heroics of freshman Dylan Channel. Channel knocked down a 3-pointer in the waning seconds of regulation to even the mark at 70-all and send the contest to an extra frame.

In the overtime period, Barton jumped on top and never trailed. Antanas Kavaliauskas scored the 1st 4 points of the OT to give Barton a 74-70 lead. Channel pushed the margin to 77-72 with his 3rd trey of the contest. Westchester would not give in, cutting the lead to one – 79-78 – with just less than two minutes to play. Channel again would respond, hitting a jumper with 1:46 to play for an 81-78 lead. After a turnover Channel knocked down a pair of free throws to an 83-78 lead. Westchester would get no closer than 3 the rest of the way as Barton hit 7-of-8 free throws in the final 1:03 and 11-of-12 for the overtime period. Kavaliauskas ended with career-highs in points and rebounds as he led the Cougars with 28 points and grabbed 15 rebounds. Channel also ended with a career-high 22 points. Aubrey Bruner tossed in 17 points and handed out 6 assists.

Barton gave the No. 15 Reivers of Iowa Western all they could handle for much of the contest Friday, but couldn't stay with them for 40 minutes as Iowa Western gave the Cougars their first home loss of the season, 77-65. The Cougars and Reivers (10-1) combined for 10 lead changes and 5 ties during the 1st 40 minutes of action before Iowa Western took a 40-36 lead to the lockerroom. In the 2nd half, however, the Reivers went on a 14-4 run that turned a 48-45 lead into a 62-49 advantage. Iowa Central didn't stop there, pushing the lead to 73-53 at the 7-minute mark, capping a 25-8 run over 8 minutes to put the game out of reach. Kavaliauskas again led Barton with 22 points and 15 boards – the 1st time he reached the 15-rebound mark. Marcus Barrett had a career-high 19 from his point guard spot.

Barton struggled in the opening half of the contest Thanksgiving night before putting things together for an impressive 82-55 win over Western Wyoming (1-8). Barton trailed just once in the opening half but had to use a 4-0 run at the end of the half to take a 32-24 lead to halftime. It didn't take Barton long to put the hammer down in the 2nd half. The Cougars came out and went on a 12-2 run to take a 44-26 lead just 5 minutes into the 2nd half. That lead grew to 54-30 at the 11:36 mark. The lead continued to swell until it reached 27 points on a couple of occasions. The Cougars were paced by Kavaliauskas with 18 points followed by Channel with 15 and Bruner with 14. Channel hit 5-of-5 on treys for a career-high 15 at the time. Bruner and Barrett each had 7 assists for Barton.

Stats
Full box scores and stats can be found at www.bartonccc.edu/sports

Next
Fri., Dec. 3 – at Coffeyville, 7 pm (Jayhawk Shoot-Out in Coffeyville)
Sun., Dec. 5 – v Cowley County, 3 pm (Jayhawk Shoot-Out in Coffeyville)

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Check out Barton County Basketball Online at www.bartonccc.edu/sports