Barton stays unbeaten with 2 wins in classic at Pratt

Barton stays unbeaten with 2 wins in classic at Pratt
The Barton Community College men's basketball team posted its best win to date during the Comfort Suites Classic at Pratt this past weekend to remain unbeaten on the season. The Cougars rolled to an easy win the opening night, beating Barclay College, 99-58, and then posted an 80-63 win over Northern Oklahoma-Enid to improve to 5-0 for the season. The games were the 1st away from Barton Gym. The Cougars will return home for 4 games this week, starting Tuesday against Fort Scott in a 7 pm tip.

Highlights
The win over Enid Saturday was by far the most impressive of the year for the Cougars as the Jets had just handed host Pratt its 1st loss of the season the previous night. Enid had close losses at Butler and earlier this season against Pratt. The Jets are now 4-3. Barton took control of the contest midway through the opening half and never looked back. The Cougars trailed 23-14 with 10:42 left in the opening half before going on a 12-0 run to take a 26-23 lead. Barton would never trail again. The Cougars continued their push in the latter stages of the opening half, turning that 12-0 run into a 16-1 run and eventually a 24-4 run for a 38-27 lead with 3:03 left in the half. Barton took a 43-32 lead to intermission.

Barton didn't let the Jets back in the game in the early stages of the 2nd half as the Cougars jumped out of the gates on an 8-2 spurt for a 51-34 lead. The lead grew to 19 at 54-35 and topped 20 points at 63-42 with 11:12 to play. Marcus Butler led the Cougars with 19 points followed by Nyika Williams with 16 points and 9 rebounds. Williams also blocked 2 shots and snagged 3 steals. One of Williams blocked came in the opening half with Barton down 23-14. He blocked the shot, grabbed the ball and tossed it Corey Bingham who led Cornelius Brown for a breakaway dunk that sparked the Cougars big run. Josh Martin handed out 7 assists to lead the Cougars while Chip Steven had 4 assists to go with 10 points.

Friday's game started much like the next night as Barton struggled during the opening minutes of action. Barclay led 15-14 with 13:32 to play before the Cougars hit stride and went on a 12-0 run to take a 26-15 lead. Barton pushed the lead to 44-22 and eventually 54-29 at half. The Cougars coasted in the 2nd half for the 41-point win. Six Cougars found double digits led by Brown with 17 points and Taaj Ridley with 14.

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

Next
Nov 18 – v Fort Scott 7 pm (non conference contest at the Barton Gym in Great Bend)
Nov 19 – v Sterling JV 7 pm (non conference contest at the Barton Gym in Great Bend)

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