Barton holds off Colby rally; ends 6-game skid at Colby

Barton holds off Colby rally; ends 6-game skid at Colby
The Barton County Community College men's basketball team built a big lead Saturday then held off a furious rally Colby to earn a precious road win in the Jayhawk West. Barton defeated Colby, 73-65 at the Community Building in Colby for the Cougars 1st win there since 2000, a string of 6 straight losses. The win kept Barton alone in 1st place in the West with a 7-1 record at the halfway point of the conference season. Barton, ranked No. 9 in the latest NJCAA poll, is now 20-1 overall this season. Colby fell to 1-6 in the West and 5-16 overall. Barton will be idle from West play until Saturday when they travel to Pratt. The Cougars do have a non-conference tilt against the Kansas Wesleyan JV at 7 pm, Monday night at the Barton Gym.

Highlights
The Cougars led by double digits (17-7) less than 10 minutes into the game and kept pulling away from the Trojans in the opening 20 minutes of action. The lead topped 20 (31-9) with 6 minutes to play and eventually hit a high of 37-11 with 3 minutes to play in the half. Barton went to halftime on top of the Trojans, 41-18, after an impressive 1st half of play.

The lead hovered around 20 points for the opening 5 minutes of the 2nd half before the Trojans began to trim it down. The lead was down to 55-41 with 13 minutes to play and to 10 points, 60-50, with 8 minutes to play as Colby began knocking down 3's and Barton began to get in foul trouble. Colby was within 8 at 69-61 with just less than 3 minutes left after Thiago Cordeiro picked up his 5th foul and Colby's Jorge Canedo completed a 3-point play. The Trojans got it down to 6 points and had the ball in the final minute but couldn't complete the large comeback.

Wagner Bueno came off the bench to score 17 for Barton to lead the Cougars. Omar Johnson joined Bueno in double figures with 15. Johnson also had 7 assists to lead the Cougars. Ivan Evans grabbed 15 rebounds for Barton to lead the Cougars while Cordeiro ended with 9 boards and 7 blocks – most of those 7 on Colby's 7-1 Canedo. Canedo scored 21 to lead Colby but it was the 3-point shooting of Irvan Meyers off the bench in the 2nd – 5 treys for 15 points – that sparked the Trojans.

Barton returns to the floor Monday for a tilt with the Kansas Wesleyan Junior Varsity. Barton will have its bye date in the conference Wednesday and return to West action Saturday when they travel to Pratt. At the halfway point for Barton they are the only 1 loss team in the West with only a pair of 2 loss team's right behind them.

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

Next
Mon, Jan 29 – v Kansas Wesleyan JV, 7 pm (non conference game at the Barton Gym) 
Sat, Feb 3 – at Pratt, 8 pm (Jayhawk West contest at Lesh Arena in Pratt)

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