Cougars drop overtime heartbreaker to Hutch

Cougars drop overtime heartbreaker to Hutch
The Barton County Community College men's basketball team lost another tough contest Saturday night, falling in overtime to Hutchinson, 89-80, at the Barton County Gym. The Cougars were in control of the game much of the night but a questionable buzzer-beating 3-pointer off the board by Hutch at the end of regulation kept the Cougars from the win. Hutch then rolled to the 9-point win over the Cougars in the overtime in Jayhawk West play. The loss was the 3rd in a row – one by 2 points and this one in overtime – for Barton, which fell to 2-3 in West play and 14-5 overall. Hutchinson moved to 3-2 in the West and 11-7 overall this season. It was the 3rd straight win for Hutch and the 1st in Great Bend in 10 years. Barton will be back on the road Wednesday when it travels to Dodge City for an 8 pm in West play.

Highlights
Barton led nearly the entire game before Terry Jeffries hit a 3-pointer that tapes showed came after the clock expired to send the game to overtime. That capped a final few seconds of furious action. The Cougars were in control of the game when Bobby Davis missed a 3-pointer to tie the game with just 6 seconds left in the contest. The ball caromed out of bounds, giving Barton the ball with 3-point lead and 4 seconds to play in the contest. But Shaun James failed to convert on the front end of a 1-and-1 with 3 seconds to play, allowing Hutch to scurry the ball down court to Jeffries, who banked in the late trey to even the game at 71-all.

During the overtime session, Barton led briefly at 75-73 after going 4-for-4 at the free throw line in the opening minute but Barton scored just 1 point the next 3 1/2 minutes as Hutch built an 83-76 lead with 40 seconds to play in the game. Barton did not net a single field goal in the overtime session, going 0-for-4 from the floor and committing 2 turnovers during the 3 1/2 minute stretch. The Cougars were 9-of-12 from the free line in the overtime period, but hit only 1-of-4 during the crucial 3 1/2 minute stretch.

Barton led by as many as 11 points in the contest, holding that lead with just a few seconds to play in the opening half. But a 3-pointer with just 4 seconds left in the opening half and another 3-pointer by Hutch to start the 2nd half off and that 11 points was trimmed to 5 in a hurry. The Cougars rebuilt that lead to 7 in the 2nd half before Hutchinson rallied to even the score at 64-all with 3:17 to play. Hutch had a brief 2-point lead before Reggie Love knocked down a trey for a 69-68 lead what moved to 71-68 with 28 seconds left on a pair of White free throws.

White was 15-for-15 at the free throw, the 2nd best effort ever for a Cougar without a miss. It comes just 2 short of the record 17-for-17 effort by JP Batista in the Region VI quarterfinals in 2004. White led Barton with 21 points that to his effort at the free throw line and added a game-high 9 assists. Chris Berry added 16 points while Love and Stucky scored 12 and 10. Ivan Evans led Barton with 9 rebounds but scored just 8 points. It was his 2nd straight single digit game after bursting on the scene to open conference play with games of 24, 20 and 17.

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

Next
Wed., Jan 25 – at Dodge City, 8 pm (Jayhawk West game at the Civic Center)

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