Cougars make it back-to-back West wins; roll by Pratt 89-71

Cougars make it back-to-back West wins; roll by Pratt 89-71
The Barton County Community College men's basketball team is beginning to string together some wins, earning back-to-back Jayhawk West wins for the 1st time this season with an 89-71 win over Pratt Saturday at the Barton Gym. The Cougars have on 3 of their last 4 and are now 4-5 in the West after stumbling out of the blocks at 0-3. Barton is 16-6 overall this season. Pratt fell to 3-6 in the West and 9-14 on the season. Barton will go after its 3rd conference road win of the season Wednesday at Dodge City as the Cougars go for their 3rd straight win.

Highlights
Barton got out of the gates quickly for once in West play, jumping to a 4-0 lead that stretched to 15-3 during the opening 6 minutes of play. It looked as if Barton was going to run away with the contest for much of the opening half, taking a 27-8 lead on a Chris Jackson 3-pointer and eventually pushing it to 20 points at 35-15 on a Chip Steven 3 with 3:18 to play in the half. But Pratt came back to cut the lead to 35-21 at the intermission.

That lead stayed at double digits for the 1st 6 minutes of the 2nd half but a 13-0 run by the Beavers cut the score to 43-38 with 12:22 still to play in the contest. The run invoked memories of the 14-point lead Barton blew in Pratt before losing the Beavers to start West play this year. This time, however, 5 points would be as close as the Beavers would get. Pratt trailed 45-40 after the two teams traded baskets but Barton followed with a quick 5-0 run to make it 50-40. Barton took a 55-45 lead on the Beavers with 8:26 left on an Antowine Lamb tip in and the Cougars' lead was double digits the rest of the way.

Jackson finished with 23 to lead the Cougars, hitting 3-fo-6 treys and 8-of-9 free throws. Steven added 15 points off the bench, keyed by 4-of-7 shooting on 3-pointers. Javon Parris added 15 as well with Qa'rraan Calhoun scoring 12. Parris, Jackson, and Matt Simmons each had 5 assists for the Cougars while Lamb and Jackson grabbed 8 boards as well. Calhoun had 4 blocks and Parris 4 steals. The 14 turnovers for the Cougars were the fewest in West play this season and 3rd lowest total all season.

Barton will turn focus to Dodge City, another team Barton watched a late lead disappear back at the start of the conference season. In that game Barton led by 7 points with 4 minutes to play before losing 83-79 at the Barton Gym. Dodge City will enter the contest with a 2-7 West record and a 10-12 overall mark. Tip will be at 8 pm at the Civic Center in Dodge City.

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

Next 
Wed Feb 6 – at Dodge City, 8 pm (Jayhawk West contest at the Civic Center in Dodge City)

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