Cougars make it back-to-back road wins to open Jayhawk West play

Cougars make it back-to-back road wins to open Jayhawk West play
The Barton Community College men's basketball team made it 2 in row on the road to open Jayhawk West play with an 89-83 overtime win over Seward County at the Green House in Liberal Wednesday night. The game was a battle of ranked teams as both clubs entered the contest tied for 22nd in the latest NJCAA poll. The Cougars were able to prevail in overtime in the contest after blowing a 10-point 2nd half lead. Barton is now 2-0 in the West and 15-1 overall on the season while Seward lost for the 2nd time to start West play and is now 0-2 in the conference and 13-3 overall. The Cougars will get to play at home Saturday when they host Dodge in the West home opener for Barton in an 8 pm tip.

Highlights
Barton got off to a slow start in the contest, falling behind by as many as 11 during the 1st half. The Cougars were down 32-21 with just more than 7 minutes to play in the opening half but finished the 1st 20 minutes with a flurry. Barton outscored Seward 20-8 during those final 7 minutes to take a 41-40 lead to the locker room following a 3-pointer by Dennan Morrow with 12 seconds left in the half.

Barton came out and took control early in the 2nd half and when Corey Bingham knocked down a 3-pointer with 15 minutes to play Barton had forged itself a double digit lead at 54-44. The Cougar lead stayed between 4 and 10 points for the next 10 minutes of the contest before Seward put together some baskets to cut into that lead. Barton still led by 9 with 4:31 to play following a Nyika Williams free throw for a 72-63 lead. That is when Thijin Moses got hot for the Saints from the outside. Moses knocked down a pair of 3-pointers 30 seconds apart and trimmed the Barton lead to 72-69 with 3:50 to play. Barton maintained the lead until the final minute when Tony Smith hit 2 free throws to tie the game with 56 seconds to play. After a Barton turnover with 27 seconds to play Seward had a chance to win the game but Chip Steven stripped Smith of the ball with 3 seconds to play to send the game to overtime tied at 76-all.

In the extra session, the Cougars jumped right back out in front and never trailed. Taaj Ridley hit a jumper 30 seconds into the overtime and following a Saint turnover, Corey Bingham buried 2 free throws for a quick 80-76 lead. A Williams' layup and 3 more Bingham free throws gave Barton an 85-78 lead with 27 seconds to play. The Cougars added 4 more free throws after that to secure the win.

Barton had a big night at the free throw line, hitting 34-of-42 attempts including 9-of-10 in the overtime session. Bingham led the way at the stripe, hitting 14-of-17 on his way to 20 points. That was 2nd high to Williams who scored 22 on the night, hitting 8-of-9 field goals and 6-of-7 free throws. Williams also had 9 rebounds to pace Barton after sitting much of the contest in foul trouble. Steven added 13 points and Marcus Butler 12. In addition to his 20 points, Bingham added 7 assists. Matt Simmons collected 8 rebounds for Barton. Seward was led by Smith who poured in 33 points in the loss.

The Cougars will return to the friendly confines for the 1st time since Nov. 22 when Barton hosts Dodge Saturday at the Barton Gym. Dodge will bring a 0-2 West record into the contest with losses at Butler and home to Hutch to start the 2009 campaign. The Conquistadors are 7-9 overall.

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

Next
Jan 10 – v Dodge 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