A twelve point swing late in Wednesday's first half action at the Barton Gym turned the tide in favor of the 17th ranked Cougars as the Barton Community College men's basketball team would roll on to a seventeen point 88-71 victory over Dodge City Community College.
Bouncing back after having their six game winning streak snapped on Monday evening, the Cougars improved to 15-3 on the season and a Jayhawk West leading 7-2 mark while the Conquistadors suffer their fifth straight loss dipping to 8-10 on the season and 0-9 in league play.
Barton will travel out west Saturday for a pivotal matchup against national receiving votes Colby Community College in a 5:00 p.m. tilt. The Trojans, one game behind the Cougars in second place at 6-2, enter as one of the hottest team in the West including victors of three straight to stand at 14-3 on the season.
Headed for a season high night, Demarcus Morris sprung in for a put-back slam electrifying life into the Barton Gym as the Cougars outscored the Conquistadors 18-4 in the final five minutes of the opening stanza, including the pivotal 12-0 run, to take a one point 40-39 advantage into the locker rooms.
Dodge City scored the first two points to begin the second half but it would be the last time Barton would trail as a Martin Vogts steal and layup capped a 6-0 run extended the lead to five with 17:15 left.
As the Cougar margin hovered around a two-possession contest over the next eleven minutes, freshman Jaheim Holden seized control of the offense scoring four straight along with dishing out one of his game high seven assists sparking a 6-0 run.
A Dodge City basket trimmed the margin back to single digits but a Justin Harmon posterizing And-1 dunk put the exclamation point on a daggering 8-0 spurt.
Holden's coast-to-coast reverse layup in the final minute gave Barton its largest lead of eighteen.
Five Cougars reached double-digit figures led by Holden's game high 24 points. Morris provided a spark off the bench recording the lone double-double of the night added sixteen points, tying a career high, to go along with ten rebounds. Harmon and Diovonte Caldwell each tallied twelve, while Desean Munson collected ten points on 4-of-8 shooting.
Leading scorer Quindarius Thomas led the Conquistadors with fifteen points in knocking down four treys and eight rebounds. Mason Senigaur finished the night with eleven points and eight boards.