Cougars advance to quarterfinals with win over Fort Scott
It wasn't a cake-walk, but the Barton County Community College men's basketball team is heading to Wichita and the quarterfinals of the Region VI tournament. The Cougars earned that spot with a 76-61 win over Fort Scott Wednesday night at the Barton Gym in 1st round Region VI action. The quarterfinals – the Region VI tournament in fact – is a place the Cougars haven't been in 3 years after serving probation the past 2 seasons. Barton trailed in the 2nd half to the Greyhounds, but used a 20-0 run in the late stages to run its record to 25-6. Barton will now tangle with Seward in quarterfinal play, Sunday at 3 pm at Koch Arena at Wichita State. The two teams have split games this season.

Highlights
The Cougars could not shake the Greyhounds in the early going, in fact Barton trailed 32-31 to the Greyhounds at the intermission. The two clubs traded the lead 10 times in the contest with Fort Scott's last lead coming at the 11:16 mark at 46-45. That is when Barton took over the contest, holding the Greyhounds scoreless for the next 8 minutes of play.

It started with a pair of free throws by Omar Johnson for a 47-46 lead at the 9:37 mark and didn't end the next 20 points of the contest. Back-to-back buckets by Thiago Cordeiro and a layup by Chris Jackson pushed the lead 55-46 for Barton with 5:55 left. Evans, Cordeiro and Johnson continue to put points on the board for Barton until it reach 65-46 with 3 minutes to play in the game. A free throw by Fort Scott with 2:51 left ended the 20-0 run and the more than 8 minute drought for the Greyhounds.

Cordeiro, playing through a sprained ankle, led the Cougars with 22 points and 11 rebounds. Evans added 15 and Jackson 14 for the Cougars. Barton's leading scorer on the season, Johnson, as limited to just 7 points on 1-of-5 shooting from the field. Barton hit just 4-of-17 from behing the 3-point arc. Fort Scott, after hitting 6-of-14 3-pointers in the opening half, hit just 1-of-9 in the 2nd half. Bateko Francisco scored 24 for the Greyhounds.

Barton and Seward will meet for the 3rd time this year. Barton won in Great Bend, 86-80, while Seward won in Liberal, 79-71.  

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

Next
Sunday, March 11 – v Seward, 3 pm (Region VI quarters at Koch Arena in Wichita)

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