Barton opens West play with win at Pratt

Barton opens West play with win at Pratt
The Barton County Community College men's basketball team turned in one of its best offensive outings of the season Wednesday night in Pratt, rolling up 93 points in a 93-85 road win at Lesh Sports Arena. It was the 1st game of the Jayhawk West schedule and also marked the Barton debut for Ivan Evans, who sat the 1st semester for Barton but became eligible for the 2nd semester. Evans, like the Cougars Wednesday, was impressive in his debut, leading Barton with 24 points to improve the Cougars to 13-2 for the season and 1-0 in the West. Pratt falls to 0-1 in the West and 11-4 overall. Barton will host Garden City Saturday in the West home opener at the Barton County Gym, tipping at 8 p.m.

Highlights
The two teams traded the lead 5 times during the 1st 23 minutes of the contest, but early in the 2nd half, Barton found its offensive rhythm, putting together an impressive 18-1 run to take control of the basketball game.

The Cougars trailed 39-33 just into the 2nd half when Dominique White hit a trey then found Chris Berry for a dunk on a breakaway, sparking the run for Barton. Evans followed with a 3-pointer and Barton never trailed again. Pratt his its only points in the run on a Josh Randall free throw to make it 41-40 with just less than 16 minutes to play but Barton would score the next 10 points to push the lead to 51-40 – the largest of the game at the time – with 31:21 to play.

Pratt closed the gap to 58-53 with just less than 10 minutes to play but Barton responded. Berry, Reggie Love, and Evans each scored in a quick 7-0 run that gave Barton a 65-53 lead. Pratt would not get under double digits again until late the game, cutting the lead back to 5 with 1:32 to play. That would be as close as the Beavers would get.

Evans hit 8-of-13 shots in his Barton debut, including 3-of-4 3-pointers on his way to 24 points. Evans added 5 rebounds and 3 steals. Berry scored 16 and White 13 with Love and Thiago Cordiero each added 10. White had 8 assists and Berry a career-high 6 assists. Cordiero just missed a double-double with 9 rebounds. Barton hit 19-of-27 shots from the floor in the 2nd half for 70 percent. The Cougars hit 58 percent for the game (32-of-55) and 10-of-18 3-pointers in the contest.

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

Next
Sat, Jan 7 – v Garden City, 8 pm (Jayhawk West game at the Barton County Gym)

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