Cougars' second half surge pulls away in Dodge City #GoBarton #RoarCougs

The Barton Community College men's basketball team owned the final fifteen minutes Wednesday night to pull away for an 85-69 win at Dodge City Community College.

The fifth straight win improves the Cougars to 6-2 and into second place in conference play and 15-2 on the year with the Conquistadors' fifth straight loss in the series sends Dodge City to 2-7 in league play and 7-11 overall. Barton returns to the Barton Gym on Saturday with a 7:30 p.m. tip hosting Colby Community College.

The Cougars led by three at the halftime break, stretched it to ten before a five point Dodge City spurt cut the deficit to five. Barton responded with a five pack run of its own, holding no less than a eight point lead before putting the game in double digits with six straight for the final ten minutes.

Elijah Ford flirted with his third double-double of the year in leading the Cougars with twenty-three points and falling one rebound shy in nine total. Leondre Washington knocked down 3-of-7 from behind the arc in finishing with thirteen points as did Diovonte Caldwell while leading the squad with five assists. Martin Vogts tallied eleven points on the night to go along with four steals while Akeem White's twelve minutes of court time produced ten points. Putting just four points on the scoreboard, Demarcus Morris did his damage on the glass with four of his game high fifteen rebounds coming on the offense glass.

Jyrus Freels showed why he leads the region in both scoring and rebounds as the sophomore pumped in twenty-nine points on 12-of-15 from the floor in a monster double-double night of hauling down fourteen rebounds. Mason Seniguar added twelve points with Trey Hill distributing six assists as Dodge City played without the region's top assist leader in Justice Dixon.