Cougars drop road games at Dodge and Butler

Cougars drop road games at Dodge and Butler
The Barton Community College men's basketball team is still searching for its 1st road win of the season after dropping a pair of Jayhawk West road contests over the extended weekend. Barton lost Monday night at Dodge City in a game that went to the final seconds, 65-64. The loss at Butler Saturday night didn't go to the final seconds as Barton was blown out at in El Dorado, 86-66. The Cougars will return home Wednesday for another West tilt against Hutchinson. Barton is now 2-3 in the West and 12-7 overall. Hutchinson will bring a 16-2 record to town and a 3-1 mark in the West.

Highlights
The Cougars had their chances in the loss at Dodge but a guarded jumper by Karon Butler and a tip from Kevin Smith couldn't find the bottom of the basket in the final seconds of the contest. Barton led the game 61-57 with just less than 5 minutes to play but a scoring drought of more than 4 minutes allowed Dodge to take a 65-61 before a Butler 3-pointer with 30 seconds left cut the lead to 65-64. The Cougars got a chance to win the game after a pair of missed free throws at the Dodge City end, leading to the last possession that came up short.

The Cougars played most of the contest without the services of their head coach as Craig Fletchall was given a pair of technical fouls and ejected with just more than 11 minutes to play in the opening half. The Cougars' Colin Beatty was whistled with a technical prior to the two on the bench. After Barton led much of the opening half, Dodge went on a 12-0 run take a 34-25 lead with just less than 4 minutes to play in the half. The Cougars came back to cut that Conquistador lead to just 3 at intermission, 37-34.

Barton put together a 13-2 run in the opening stages of the 2nd half to take a 47-41 lead with 16 minutes to play in the game. Barton maintained the lead – other than a couple of ties – until 1:45 left in the game when Chuck Coley hit a 3-pointer from the right corner for a 62-61 lead.

Beatty recorded a double-double in the game, leading Barton with 15 points and 10 rebounds. Kevin Smith added 13 points and 9 rebounds while Ron Baker scored 10. Coley led Dodge with 21 points and 10 rebounds.

Saturday at Butler, the Cougars fell behind 12-2 out of the gates and spent the rest of the night in pursuit of the Grizzlies. Barton would twice get the lead down to 4 – once in each half – and eventually as low as 2 but Butler responded every time. The 1st time came at 23-19 in the opening half when Butler followed with a 7-0 run and a 30-19 lead. The Cougars cut it 4 once again in the 2nd half, trailing 53-49 with 13:14 to play. This time a 6-0 run made it double figures again at 59-49. The Cougars responded with an 8-0 run of their own to make it 59-57 with 8 minutes on the clock. This time Butler put the hammer down. The Grizzlies fired back with a 16-1 run to take a 75-58 lead with 4 minutes left and rolled to the 20-point win.

Smith paced Barton with 14 points while Beatty added 10 points and 8 rebounds. Joe Reid led Barton with 9 rebounds and added 9 points as well. Butler put 5 players in double figures led by Caleb Walker with 16 points and 15 rebounds.

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

Next
Jan 20 – v Hutch 8 pm (Jayhawk West play at the Barton Gym in Great Bend)

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