The 25th ranked Barton Community College men's basketball team held off a second half charge Saturday afternoon for a 72-70 victory over Pratt Community College in the Cougars last home game of the fall semester.
The Cougars led by twelve early in the second half but found itself facing a six point deficit with under three to play. Outscoring the Beavers 11-3 the rest of the way, Barton took the final lead with fifty-two seconds left to escape with the victory.
Barton improves to 4-3 in conference and 9-4 overall while Pratt drops to 3-4 in league and 6-6 overall.
The Cougars wrap up the fall slate on Monday in a 7:30 p.m. tip at 24th ranked Butler Community College.
Barton didn't have its best shooting night at just 37.5% but the Cougars made clutch plays and put the defensive clamps on down the stretch to offset the Beavers' 48.9% shooting.
Joseph Locandro and Cooper Jackson led four Cougars in double digit scoring with 15 points each. Locandro added 11 rebounds to post his 9th double-double of the year with Jackson resetting his new career high in points to compliment his four steals helping the Cougars to a plus-7 point edge in points off turnovers.
Mozae Downing-Rivers added 13 points behind 8-of-10 free throw shooting as Cougar Downing contributed 10 points, none larger than a triple with 1:35 remaining to draw Barton to within one then adding three more in converting an old fashioned three point play putting the Cougars in front for good for the final fifty-three seconds.
Sterling Young lead all players with 19 points, connecting on 3-of-5 from beyond the arc. Chidiebere Obichere helped the Beavers to a slim one rebound edge, grabbing 12 rebounds and contributing 18 points for the double-double effort. Qaui Kellman was the lone other Beaver in double figures with 13 points in leading the team in assists with four.
Jackson's trey and Hannes Saar's up-n-under scooped shot opened up the scoring with the Cougars later on taking another five point lead as Aime Rutayisire's triple led a seven point spurt putting Barton back in front at 19-14.
Following a Pratt bucket, the Cougars piled on another seven straight getting four from Locandro and a right wing Howard Johnson shot behind the arc for a ten point gap. Three minutes later Locandro's 11th point of the opening half and Downing's pair of free throws pushed the margin to thirteen, settling for a 37-27 lead to the break following the Beaver's Young draining a deep shot with thirty-five second later.
Pratt grabbed the first four points of the second half with Saar leading a six point counter with four of his pushing the gap back to twelve.
Owning the next five minutes off the clock, Pratt went on a 13-2 stretch in cutting the deficit to just one with 12:40 left. Downing-Rivers and Locandro kept the Beavers temporarily at bay through the midpoint until Young's triple led a six-point spark putting Pratt in the lead with 8:03 remaining.
Jackson's four points and Amiri Ndayisaba's corner pocket arc buster answered the call trading the lead to a Barton five-point advantage but the Beavers fired right back with eight straight to reverse the momentum for a 61-58 lead with 4:56 to play.
Pratt would score six of the next eight from the charity stripe over the next two minutes to grow the margin to six.
Downing-Rivers perfect pair of tosses from the stripe and Downing's lone trey of the game drew Barton back to within one with 1:35 on the clock. Following a Pratt 1-of-2 trip to the free throw line, Downing found a seam to the cup for the tie, putting Barton in front for good in converting the And-1 with just under fifty three seconds left.
The Cougars produced a defensive stop, Downing-Rivers securing the rebound off a missed Beaver three-point attempt, then subsequently making 1-of-2 from the stripe giving Barton a two-point lead.
Plagued by turnovers at crucial times, Pratt committed their 21st on the ensuing possession resulting in sending Jackson to ice the game at the stripe sinking a pair with fifteen seconds on the clock.
Pratt put the final points on the board with a dunk under a second to play as Barton's inbound reeled off the last .4 seconds for the victory.