Barton pulls off improbable comeback win over Coffeyville; go 2-0 at Shoot Out

Barton pulls off improbable comeback win over Coffeyville; go 2-0 at Shoot Out
The Barton County Community College men's basketball team staged one of the most exciting comebacks in Jayhawk Shoot Out history Saturday night, rallying for a 96-95 win over host Coffeyville in the final seconds. Barton trailed by 7 points with less than 20 seconds to play before hitting 3 3-pointers in the final 17 seconds against the No. 12 ranked Red Ravens. Qa'rraan Calhoun hit a 3-pointer with 0.5 seconds to play to cap the comeback. Barton also won the morning before, 77-72 over Labette, to complete the weekend with a 2-0 mark. The win over the ranked Red Ravens in a rematch of the Region VI final this past spring, might propel Barton (9-1) into the Top 20 this week. The Cougars are done until late December when they will travel to New Jersey for games Dec. 28, 29, and 30. Jayhawk West play will tip Jan. 2 at Pratt.

Highlights
The comeback staged by the Cougars gave them their 1st lead since 8-7 as Coffeyville led nearly the entire contest. The Red Ravens led by 12 at halftime and by as many as 18 points in the 2nd half. That 18-point lead came at 13:03 when the Red Ravens led 73-55. Barton wasn't able to get the lead under double digits until a Chris Jackson steal and dunk made it 83-75 with 6:13 to play. Coffeyville again pushed it to 92-78 with 4:12 to play. Barton scored the next 9 points over 3 minutes to make it 92-87 with 1 minute to play when Calhoun knocked down his 4th trey of the game. The Cougars had a chance to get it down to 3 following a steal by Javon Parris, but the sophomore wasn't able to convert on free throws and when Coffeyville's Daniel Payne made 2 free throws it look over as the Red Ravens led 94-87 with 23 seconds to play.

That is when things got wild – real wild. Chris Jackson hit a long trey – his 7th of the contest – from the top of the key with 17 seconds left and a quick Barton foul put Coffeyville at the line with 15 seconds left, leading 94-90. Terrance Hill made 1 of 2 free throws for a 95-90 Red Raven lead. Chip Steven buried his 3rd trey of the game with 8 seconds left off an assists from Parris to make it 95-93.

Then it got really bizarre. Scott Schneider tipped the ensuing Coffeyville inbounds pass. Jackson and Coffeyville's Lucas Lumb both went after the ball with Jackson knocking it free from Lumb near the right elbow. The ball bounded to Parris, laying the floor who tossed it to Calhoun just right of the top of the key where he drilled the 21-footer for the win that left much of the pro-Coffeyville crowd stunned, the Barton faithful – including players and coaching – jumping around in unbridled joy and the rest of the 700-plus fans and coaches at the ShootOut amazed. The Red Ravens Lucas Lumb got off a desperation shot that just missed to end the bizarre final 20 seconds.

Jackson scored a career-high 30 in the win while Calhoun added 25 and Chip Steven just missed a career-high with 19. Jackson hit 7-of-9 3-pointers in the win. Calhoun and Steven combined to hit 8-of-16 3-pointers. During the 2nd half, Barton made 11-of-16 treys – including the last 7 the Cougars attempted over the final 8 minutes.

In the win over Labette, the Cougars led by as many as 18 points in the opening half and 36-20 at halftime. That is when the Cougars defense began to struggle and Labette began to rally. The Cardinals used an 8-0 run to make it 42-33 with 16 minutes to play and a 7-2 run to make it 66-62 with 5 minutes to play. The Cougars were able to hold the Cardinal at bay until a 3-pointer by Labette with 1 minute left cut Barton's lead to 71-70. A Calhoun layup and fast break dunk pushed the Barton lead back to 75-70 on the way to the win.

Calhoun scored a career-high 29 for Barton in the win followed by Jackson with 26. Over the weekend, the two scored 54 and 56 points. Javon Parris had 9 assists in the win while Wagner Bueno collected 11 rebounds. Christopher Reed scored 25 for Labette.

Stats
Stats can be found at www.bartonccc.edu/sports

Next 
Fri Dec 28 – v CC of Philadelphia, 3 pm (Burlington Holiday Classic at Pemberton, NJ) 
Sat Dec 29 – v Cumberland County (NJ), 11 am (Burlington Holiday Classic at Mt Holly, NJ)
Sun Dec 30 – at Mercer County (NJ), Noon (Non conference game at West Windsor, NJ)

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