Barton drops West opener at Pratt in final seconds

Barton drops West opener at Pratt in final seconds
The Barton County Community College men's basketball team lost it Jayhawk West opener Wednesday in Pratt, falling 70-68 at the Lesh Sports Arena. It was a game that saw Barton lead by as many as 14 points in the 2nd before limping home and losing all that cushion. Pratt's only lead in the final 15 minutes of the game came with the final score. The loss was just the 2nd on the season for Barton, now 12-2 and 0-1 in West play while Pratt improves to 7-8 overall and 1-0 in the West. Barton will play Dodge City Saturday at the Barton Gym as the Cougars open the home slate of the West schedule, which will see Barton at home just once in the first 4 games and twice in the 1st 7 West outings.

Highlights
The Cougars appeared to be cruising to the win midway through the 2nd half, leading 59-45 with just 7:49 left in the contest. The Cougars had taken over the game following 14-4 run that saw Chris Jackson knock down 3 treys in a 9-0 run of his own to make it 54-41. After falling behind by 14 points, Pratt immediately responded with an 8-0 run to cut the lead to 59-53 with 6:13 still to play. During that stretch Barton missed a 3-pointer, two free throws and turned the ball over once as Pratt scored on 4 straight possessions.

Pratt eventually whittled the lead to a single point at 62-61 with 3:28 to play but Barton pushed it back to 5 points on a Javon Parris layup and free throw with 1:47 left to give Barton a 68-63 lead. Those would be the Cougars' final points as Pratt converted on a 3-pointer and layup while Parris had his layup pinned against the backboard by Alex Rivas-Sanchez of Pratt, who finished with 8 blocks. That series of possessions tied the score at 68-all with 49 seconds to play. Parris again drove the lane the next possession failing to convert the contested layup, giving Pratt a final opportunity to win the game. Rivas-Sanchez did that with 3 seconds left on a layup.

Qa'rraan Calhoun again led Barton, scoring 24 points in the loss. Jackson added 17 and Nyika Williams 11 off the Barton bench. Calhoun grabbed 10 rebounds to record his 1st double-double as a Cougar. The sophomore transfer from St. John's University had 6 steals as well to lead Barton. Chip Steven had 7 assists to pace the Cougars. Carlin Whitten scored 21 to lead Pratt.

Barton will look to get back on the winning track this weekend when Dodge City – the 2-time defending Jayhawk West champion – comes to the Barton Gym. Dodge City lost a double-overtime contest at Seward to start West play Wednesday.

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

Next 
Sat Jan 5 – v Dodge City, 8 pm (Jayhawk West play at the Barton Gym)

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