Cougars pick up another road win with OT victory at Garden

Cougars pick up another road win with OT victory at Garden
The Barton Community College men's basketball team continued its success on the road Wednesday night in Garden City with an 82-76 overtime win over the Broncbusters at the Perryman Complex to remain unbeaten in Jayhawk West play. The win moves Barton to 4-0 in the West with 3 of those 4 wins coming on the road. Barton, ranked No. 18 in the latest NJCAA poll, is now 17-1 on the season. Garden fell to 1-2 with the loss and 11-6 overall. Barton will back in action Saturday when the Cougars host Butler (2-1, 13-4). It will be Hall of Fame night at the Barton Gym with the men's tip slated for 8 pm.

Highlights
Barton spent most of the night chasing the Broncbusters but had the lead when it counted. The Cougars trailed by as many as 8 in the contest and never had the lead in the 2nd half after the 15 minute mark. Garden led 69-63 with 4 minutes left in regulation but the Broncbuster would score just 1 more point the rest of the 2nd half to allow Barton to even the score in the final seconds. A pair of Nyika Williams free throws cut the Garden lead to 69-65 with 4 minutes to play then 2 more charity tosses by Marcus Butler with 2 minutes to play made it 69-67. Barton's Josh Martin and Garden's Trevor Ottley traded 1-for-2 efforts at the line and when the Cougars turned the ball over with 26 seconds to play, things didn't look good. But Barton forced Garden into a turnover on the inbounds under the Cougars basket, giving Barton the ball back and one last chance to tie. Corey Bingham drove the lane and was fouled with 18 seconds left. The sophomore calmly knocked down both charity tosses to tie the score. The Broncbusters had one last chance to win but a Thomas Manzano jumper at the buzzer rimmed out.

The teams traded the lead the 1st half of the overtime period with Williams giving the Cougars the lead for good on a pair of free throws with 2:31 to play for a 74-73 lead. Barton extended that to 77-73 when Bingham hit a 25-footer with the shot clocking expiring at the 1:43 mark. Garden, however, had one more scare in it when Manzano immediately answered with a 3 of his own to make it 77-76. The Cougars clung to a 79-76 following a Bingham layup when Chip Steven came up with another big defensive play late. Steven stole the ball from Ottley with 55 seconds left and  threw it to Bingham, who was fouled. Bingham pushed the lead to 80-76 and Garden would not score the rest of the way.

Bingham led 4 players in double figures for Barton, netting 15 points off the Cougars bench – which continues to one of the most productive benches in the West. Barton's bench outscored the Garden bench 34-14 in the win. In 4 conference games this year, the Cougars bench has outscored its opponents bench 139-69 for an average of nearly 35 points per game. Bingham was followed by Williams and Martin with 13 each and Butler added 12. Williams led Barton with 8 rebounds while Bingham handed out 7 assists and had 3 steals. Garden was paced by Manzano with 21 points while Bobby Wesley added 15 points and 10 assists.

Barton will hosting a Butler team that has been one of the surprises in the West so far. Butler was picked to finish 8th in the West this year in the preseason coaches' poll but are among the West leaders so far. Butler is 2-1 in the West after an 86-60 drubbing of then co-leader Hutchinson Wednesday night. The Grizzlies are 13-4 overall this year with some big non conference wins including Iowa Western and Coffeyville.  Butler won just 4 West games last year and was 9-21 overall.

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

Next
Jan 17 – v Butler 8 pm (Jayhawk West contest at the Barton Gym in Great Bend)

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