Barton wins thriller to put finishing touches on West championship

Barton wins thriller to put finishing touches on West championship
The Barton Community College men's basketball team finished up its regular season with a thrilling 99-95 win over Pratt Saturday night at the Barton Gym. The Cougars had to rally for the win in front of the biggest crowd of the season in one of the club's most exciting games this year. The win put the finishing touches on the Barton's Jayhawk West title season. Barton finishes the regular with a 26-4 overall mark and 13-3 West record to win the conference by 2 games. Pratt tied for 5th in the West with an 8-8 mark and finishes with an 18-12 overall record. The Cougars will play host to Labette in the opening round of the Region VI tournament. The Cougars are the top seed from the West while Labette (7-23) is the 8th seed from the Jayhawk East. Tip will be at 8 pm at the Barton Gym.

Highlights
The Cougars trailed by as many as 16 in the opening half of play and trailed by as many 12 early in the 2nd half. Pratt shot 50 percent in the opening half as the Beavers built a 46-35 lead on the Cougars. The Cougars completely overcame that deficit with a 16-0 run in the 2nd half to give Barton a 57-53 lead with 13:30 to play in the game. Barton pushed that lead to as many as 8 at 65-57 before the Beavers rallied to take a 68-67 lead. That was just the beginning of the excitement at the Barton Gym.

The final 11 minutes of play saw 7 lead changes and 6 ties. The biggest lead for either team during that stretch was at 89-84 in favor of Pratt with 3:43 to play. Barton followed with an 8-1 that changed the game. Nyika Williams started it with a traditional 3-point play and a Corey Bingham jumper to cut the margin to 90-89 with 2:30 to play. Williams tied the game at 90-all with 1-of-2 free throws and Josh Martin gave Barton the lead with another 1-of-2 effort at the free throw. Martin then hit one of the game's biggest shot when he connected on a long jumper with 40 seconds to play for a 93-90 lead.

Pratt wouldn't go lightly though. The teams traded free throws for a 95-92 Barton lead before Pratt all but tied the game. The Beavers' Michael Tyler put a 3-pointer with 20 seconds to play that rimmed nearly all the way in before spinning out. Chip Steven finished the game with a perfect 4-for-4 from the free throw line to secure the win.

Bingham had a huge 2nd half in the game on his way to the highest point total by any Barton player this year. Bingham hit 10-of-14 shots in the 2nd half, including 3-of-4 from behind the 3-point line. Bingham ended with 32 points in the win – 28 in the 2nd half. Nyika Williams posted another double-double in the win adding 23 points and grabbing 14 rebounds. He also finished with a career-high 7 blocked shots. Martin added 17, Steven 11 and Taaj Ridley 10 as 5 different Cougars found double figures.

Pratt had led by Tyler with 25 points and 8 rebounds. Demondo Eilend added 23 points including 5 3-pointers. Tyrone Gordon had a big night for the Beavers, scoring 16 points and handing out 12 assists.

Barton will take the No. 1 seed to the Region VI tournament for the 1st time in 6 year when Labette visits the Barton Gym Tuesday in an 8 pm tip. The last time the Cougars took the top seed from the West into tournament Barton was eliminated in the quarterfinals in 2003.

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

Next
March 2 – v Labette 8 pm (Region VI 1st round playoffs at the Barton Gym in Great Bend)

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