The Barton Community College men's basketball team responded emphatically from their first loss of the season two days prior, eclipsing the century mark for the third time on the young season in cruising to a 106-73 victory Monday night at the Barton Gym over the reserve squad from Tabor College.
The Cougars improve to 4-1 in handing the Blue Jays their first loss in three outings. Barton's next action will come this weekend in the Best Western/Cougar Booster Club Classic at the Barton Gym. The Cougars will take on Oklahoma City Storm on Friday before closing the weekend on Saturday against nationally receiving votes Monroe College (2-0). Tip-off set for 7:30 p.m. for both contests.
The Cougars' exploded out of the gates scoring the contest's first eleven points on 5-of-5 shooting in the opening 2:24 and never laid off the gas pedal expanding the margin to a 20-point halftime lead to later increase the gap to as much as thirty-three points in the second frame.
A night in which all thirteen available Cougars saw the court, Barton finished with five individuals reaching double-figure scoring including the big night of Jaheim Holden. The freshman guard had a night to remember in notching his first collegiate double-double, accounting for ten points while dishing out sixteen assists in tying four previous on the program's second best single game dime distribution, two shy of 2015 Barton Sports Hall of Fame inductee Gene Butler's eighteen set in 1991.
Justin Harmon led four additional Cougars in double-digit scoring with nineteen powered by 8-of-11 shooting. Fellow freshman Keandre Bowles tallied nine in each frame, finishing with eighteen points knocking down a pair of triples leading the way for Barton from behind the arc.
Other double-digit scorers were Demarcus Morris in setting a new career high with seventeen while fellow sophomore Martin Vogts came off the bench to pump in eleven.
Mavrick Gildyard led the Cougar glass cleaners with a game high ten rebounds finishing three points shy of a double-double with seven.
Barton outscored Tabor 72-34 inside the paint with a 24-9 advantage on the break generated off twenty-five Blue Jay turnovers.
Tabor ended the contest with just one player reaching double digits as Leon Srisamutr knocked down 4-of-6 behind the arc in scoring a game high twenty.
This weekend's Classic also features the national ranked teams from Hutchinson Community College. The 7th ranked Blue Dragon men will tip-off proceeding the women's action at 3:00 p.m. each day, taking on nationally receiving votes Monroe College in Friday's matchup before concluding their time in the Barton Gym on Saturday taking on the Reivers of Iowa Western. The women, also ranked 7th in the latest NJCAA Division I poll, play the 1:00 p.m. game each day, taking on Labette in Friday's action followed by Jefferson on Saturday.
The Barton women precede the men with 5:30 p.m. tosses in the air, taking on Jefferson College (3-0) on Friday with Labette Community College (2-1) looming for the Saturday tilt.