Cougar basketball tips off season with wins in Pizza Hut Classic

Cougar basketball tips off season with wins in Pizza Hut Classic
The No. 24 ranked Barton County Community College men's basketball team started things off on the right foot with a pair of wins at its own Pizza Hut Classic over the weekend. Barton held off a pesky North Platte (Neb) for a win the opening night then shut down Lamar (Colo) for a win on the closing night. Barton defeated North Platte by a 57-53 count then rolled to the 67-37 win over Lamar to start out with a 2-0 mark.

Highlights
The Cougars were without Coach Soupy Campbell the opening night, serving a 1-game suspension stemming from his ejection during the Region VI Championship game last season. New assistant coach Bob Bargen filled in for Campbell and overlooked the Barton season-opening win.

The Cougars had to work for the win in the opener. The clubs traded the lead in the 1st half with North Platte taking a 31-30 lead into intermission on the No. 24 Cougars. The Cougars quickly took a 33-32 lead in the 2nd half and never trailed the remainder of the contest. Barton built that lead to 9 at 51-42 with 5:37 to play but couldn't shake the Knights. An 8-0 run by North Platte to make it 51-50 was ended when Adam Hrycanuik knocked down a shot with 3:10 to play. North Platte again made it a single digit when Hrycanuik hit a free throw and later Scott Elliott drilled a jumper for a 56-52 lead with 40 seconds left. The Knights had an opportunity to tie the contest in the final seconds but a missed 3-pointer allowed Barton to escape with the win.

Elliott led Barton with 17 points, a career-high for the sophomore from Leavenworth. Antanas Kavaliauskas added 10 points while Diogo Salazar led Barton with 9 rebounds. Aubrey Bruner tallied 9 assists as well for the Cougars.

Saturday night the Cougars defense went into lockdown mode in the opening half against the Runnin' Lopes of Lamar. The first half numbers read like this – Barton led 31-8 on the scoreboard; Lamar hit just 3-of-18 shots in the opening half; Lamar 13 turnovers. Lamar couldn't get any closer than 19 points the 2nd half as Barton cruised to the win. Kavaliauskas led the Cougars with 12 points and 7 boards.

Stats
Full box scores and stats can be found at www.bartonccc.edu/sports

Next
Thurs., Nov. 11 – v. Northeastern JC (Colo), 6 pm (Air Force Prep Classic in Colorado Springs)
Fri., Nov. 12 – v. New Mexico Military, 6 pm (Air Force Prep Classic in Colorado Springs)
Sat., Nov. 13 – v. Air Force Prep (Colo), 6 pm (Air Force Prep Classic in Colorado Springs)

-30-

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