Barton loses for 1st time in conference play

Barton loses for 1st time in conference play
The Barton Community College men's basketball team was the final team to be knocked from the ranks of the unbeaten in Jayhawk West play, losing a 74-70 decision to Hutchinson Wednesday night at the Sports Arena in Hutch. Barton trailed by as many as 18 in the contest before coming back to take the lead in the 2nd half. But Hutch rallied for the win in an effort to keep pace with the Cougars for the West title. Barton is now 5-1 in the West and 18-2 overall while Hutch is 4-1 and 15-4. The Cougars are off until Wednesday when they will host Colby in Jayhawk West action.

Highlights
Barton got off to a rugged start in the contest falling behind 8-0 before finally netting its 1st points nearly 6 minutes into the contest. Chip Steven broke the drought with a jumper at the 14:07 mark of the half. The Cougars were able to hang around that deficit for a while, trailing just 17-10 with a little more than 6 minutes to play in the half. But over the next 3 1/2 minutes, Hutchinson put the hammer down. The Blue Dragons scored on 8 of its next 9 possessions to push the margin to 34-16. Barton was able to score the final 6 points of the half to trim the score to 34-22 by intermission.

Barton trailed by as many as 14 in the early stages of the 2nd half but the Cougars continued to whittle away at the Hutchinson lead. Barton cut it to single digits with 15:52 to play on a Taaj Ridley free throw and put together a 7-0 run to make it 44-40 with 13:47 left when John Schneider scored on an offensive rebound. Barton stayed within 6 points of the Blue Dragons over the next 10 minutes before finally taking its 1st lead of the game when Chip Steven buried a 3-pointer with 3:43 left for a 61-59 lead. The teams traded the lead until the final minute of the game.

Hutch took the lead for good on a dunk from Cliff Dixon following a Darius Johnson-Odom steal and fast break conversion. Baton failed to score in its next possession and Hutch made 8-of-8 free throws in the final minute to seal the win. Barton appeared to have a chance when Ridley hit a layup to make it 70-67 with 16 seconds left and Marcus Butler followed with a near-steal from Johnson-Odom. But Butler was whistled for a foul and Hutch continued to knock down free throws.

Steven led Barton with 17 points followed by 15 from Ridley. Ridley added 9 boards and Steven 5 steals. Dixon led four Blue Dragons in double figures with 19 while Johnson-Odom added 15. Dixon also collected 13 rebounds while Johnson-Odom had 8 assists.

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

Next
Jan 28 – v Colby 8 pm (Jayhawk West contest at the Barton Gym in Great Bend)

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