Cougars win two in Pizza Hut Classic to open hoops campaign

Cougars win two in Pizza Hut Classic to open hoops campaign
The Barton County Community College men's basketball team got the 2005-06 season off to a good start this past weekend, winning a pair of games at the season-opening Pizza Hut Classic at the Barton County Gym in Great Bend. The Cougars defeated Air Force Prep Friday night by an 80-69 score then came back Saturday and won a thriller over Neosho County, 72-70. The win Saturday pitted the Cougars new coach, Craig Fletchall, against the team he had coached the previous 5 seasons. The wins move Barton to 2-0 on the season. The Cougars are back in action Monday when they take on the McPherson JV in an attempt to go to 3-0 on the young season.

Highlights
The Cougars and Neosho hooked up in a thriller Saturday night with the game going late into the night. The contest didn't start until after 9 pm as the 4-game schedule pushed the contest late. But nearly all the crowd of more than 1100 didn't leave until the very end.

Some folks may have left just 5 minutes into the 2nd half as Barton built a 56-43 lead following a jumper in the paint from AJ Martin. That was the largest lead of the game for the Cougars but it didn't last very long at all. In fact it all disappeared and then some in a hurry. Following Martin's jumper Barton missed its next 10 shots from the floor and committed of turnovers over the next 8 possessions. Meanwhile, Neosho County caught fire. The Panthers scored on its next 8 possessions, putting together an 18-0 run to give Neosho a 61-56 lead with just more than 9 minutes to play in the game. Neosho hit 7-of-9 shots during that stretch, grabbing offensive rebounds on the two misses. Included in that was a pair of 3-pointers and a pair of free throws.

Barton's Dominique White ended that run with a hoop, but Neosho ran it's string of consecutive possessions with a score to 10 straight as they built the lead to 66-60 with 8:14 to play. The Cougars' defense improved after letting the Panthers score on those 10 straight possessions, limited Neosho to just 4 points the in the final 8 minutes and without a point in the final 3:42 of the game. It was with 3:42 to play that Neosho still led 70-66 following an Erik Adams basket. Barton trimmed it to 70-68 with 3:13 to play on a Thiago Codeiro basket in the paint.

Following a missed basket by Neosho, the teams' traded four straight turnovers before the Cougars evened the score at 70-all on a steal by Chris Berry that resulted in a Reggie Love layup to even the score. Love was fouled on the layup and made the free throw to give Barton a 71-70 lead with 50 seconds to play. White made it 72-70 with 29 seconds to play, hitting 1-of-2 free throws. The Panthers had one last shot tie or win the game, but Kavin Worsley shot missed and the Cougars moved to 2-0. AJ Martin scored 16 to lead the Cougars in the win, followed by Love with 14. Love also added 5 assists. Chris Berry recorded his 2nd double double in 2 games for Barton posting 13 points and grabbing 10 rebounds in the win.

Friday night, Barton fell behind Air Force Prep 12-5 early in the contest but came storming back 19-5 run to grab a 24-17 lead. Barton would not trail the rest of the way. Barton pushed that lead to 17 early in the 2nd half and eventually to 19 points at 73-54 with just more than 5 minutes to play. Berry scored 21 points and had 10 rebounds in the win, followed by Love with 17. White had 13 points and 6 assists for the Cougars.

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

Next
Mon, Nov 7 – v Sterling JV, 7 pm (non conference game at the Barton County Gym)

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