Barton loses another close Jayhawk West contest

Barton loses another close Jayhawk West contest
The Barton Community College men's basketball team dropped its 2nd straight close contest in the Jayhawk West with a tough 87-83 loss to Hutchinson Wednesday night at the Barton Gym. That comes on the heels of a 65-64 setback at Dodge City Monday. The loss drops Barton to 2-4 in the West and 12-8 overall. Hutch, ranked No. 12 in the latest NJCAA poll, improve to 4-1 in the West and 17-2 overall. Barton will now get a week off before the Cougars travel to Colby to take on the Trojans. That contest is slated to tip at 8 pm at the Community Building.

Highlights
The Cougars were without the services of their head coach as Craig Fletchall was serving the 1st of a 2-game suspension. Associate Coach Jordan Watson guided the Cougars and will do so again at Colby.

Barton spent much of the night chasing Hutchinson but held the lead for a good portion of the opening half and at halftime. The Cougars trailed 21-14 in the opening 8 minutes before taking a 30-23 lead. Colin Beatty put the exclamation marks on the run in a quick 1-minute span. With Barton trailing 23-22 Beatty knocked down a 3-pointer to give Barton its 1st lead at 25-22. He followed with a steal and a dunk then capped it off with another trey and an 8-0 run by Beatty for the 7-point lead with 6:34 to play. Barton held that lead until half, where the Cougars led 38-32.

Hutchinson quickly took control to start the 2nd half and opened up a double digit lead with just less than 13 minute to play. The Blue Dragons poured in 25 points in just more than 7 minutes during that stretch while Barton could net just 8 points. That gave Hutch a 57-46 lead they would hold until just 5 minutes remained.

After obtaining its biggest lead of the game at 68-56 with just more than 7 minutes to play the Blue Dragons saw the Cougars come roaring back. A Dennan Morrow 3-pointer, two Beatty free throws and a fast-break dunk by Kevin Smith sliced the lead to 68-63 and energize the large crowd. Another Beatty hoop made it a 3-point game then a 4-point play from Morrow gave the Cougars the lead. Morrow got the pass on the right wing off an offensive rebound by Beatty. He knocked down the shot then hit the floor as Hutch's Josh Davis fouled the sophomore sharp shooter, sending the crowd into a frenzy. Morrow hit the ensuring free throw, capping a 13-0 run and giving Barton a 69-68 lead with 5 minutes to play.

But Hutch scored the game's next 5 points and retook a 73-69 lead it would not again give up. Barton kept things interesting in the final minute, cutting the margin to as low as 83-81 with 18 seconds left but the Blue Dragons made their final 6 free throws and 8-of-10 in the final minute to lock down the win. Beatty led Barton with 24 points followed by Karon Burton with 22. Joe Mitchell led 5 Blue Dragons in double figures with 21.

The Cougars will have their bye date in the schedule Saturday and will not return to play until a trip to Colby Wednesday night. Barton will host Pratt the following Saturday to complete the 1st time through the West.

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

Next
Jan 27 – at Colby 8 pm (Jayhawk West play at the Community Building in Colby)

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