Barton back on winning track; Morrow ties mark with 9 treys

Barton back on winning track; Morrow ties mark with 9 treys 
The Barton Community College men's basketball team again put the skids on a 3-game losing stretch this time with a resounding 99-64 win over Colby Wednesday night at the Barton Gym. In the process sophomore Dennan Morrow connected on 9 3-pointers to tie the school record. The win improved Barton to 5-10 in the Jayhawk West and 15-14 overall. Barton will be the No. 8 seed from the West in the upcoming Region VI playoffs. The destination for the Cougars will be Cowley, Allen County, or Coffeyville. That foe will be determined after Saturday's games. Barton will wrap up its season at Pratt Saturday night with an 8 pm tip.

Highlights
For the 3rd straight time the Cougars broke a 3-game skid with a win. The problem has been that during that stretch the Cougars have been able to put together back-to-back wins. Wednesday in the final home game of the season, Barton jumped to a 16-2 lead in the contest as Barton came out firing from long distance. Morrow hit 3 treys in that stretch and Colin Beatty added another in the opening 5 minutes of play.

Colby would not get back to single digits after the big start. Barton pushed the lead to 30-10 13 minutes into the game and took a 45-22 lead to halftime. Barton quickly pushed the lead to 30 points at 60-30 5 minutes into the 2nd half and had its biggest lead of 43 points with 4 minutes left in the contest. It was on that shot – a 3-pointer by Morrow – that put him in the record book alongside Gordon Scott, who made 9 back in 1998. Morrow had two more tries to put his name alone but couldn't convert. He left to an ovation with 24 seconds left on sophomore night.

Morrow made 9-of-15 treys for the game and 10-of-18 overall on the way to a career-high 29 points. He was not the only Cougars to produce on the offensive end, however, as Barton had its best offensive effort of the season in Jayhawk West play. Barton connected on 34-of-59 shots for a season-best 58 percent from the floor. The 99 points were the most in West play and the highest since a season-opening 113-50 win over the Bethany JV. The 23 assists were a West season-high and the 14 turnovers were the lowest in nearly a month.

Beatty added 14 for the Cougars in the win, Kevin Smith 13, Samer Jassar 12, Karon Butler 10, and Ebenezer Davis 10. For Jassar the 12 were a season-high. Four different Cougars grabbed 7 rebounds – Smith, Beatty, Ron Baker, and Jassar. Barton hit a sizzling 16-of-28 on 3-pointers for 58 percent.

Barton will try to put together back-to-back wins for the 1st time since January 13 when the Cougars travel to Pratt Saturday for the regular season finale. The outcome will have no effect on the Barton's Region VI seeding. The Cougars will play Cowley if the Tigers win at Neosho. If Cowley losses at Neosho, Barton will play Allen County if the Red Devils win a home game against Indy. If both Cowley and Allen lose, the Cougars will go to Coffeyville. Opening rounds games will be Tuesday.

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

Next
Feb 27 – at Pratt 8 pm (Jayhawk West play at Lesh Arena in Pratt)