Barton holds off Hesston to capture early season road contest

Barton holds off Hesston to capture early season road contest

The Barton Community College men's basketball team took to the road in just its 2nd contest of the 2010-11 season, traveling to Hesston College Saturday and coming away with a hard-fought 85-74 win over Hesston in a battle of Region VI teams. The Cougars led most of the 2nd half but with 2 minutes to play found themselves tied with Larks before pulling away for the win behind a career-high 35 points from sophomore standout Colin Beatty. The win improved Barton to 2-0 while Hesston lost for the 1st time in falling to 2-1. The Cougars will be back on their home floor this weekend as they host the Barton Classic. Barton will play Quakerdale Prep Friday and Frank Phillips Saturday. Both games are scheduled for 7 pm.

Highlights
The Cougars trailed much of the opening half of action, including as many as 7 on a couple of occasions. The latest of those came at the 5:37 mark of the opening half at 33-26. Barton managed to come back and tie the game and even take a brief 38-37 lead before the Larks went to intermission up 39-38. Barton shot just 40 percent in the half and made just 3-of-12 3-pointers. Hesston outrebounded the Cougars in the opening half 25-20 but was hitting just 40 percent itself.

The 2nd half saw Barton get up early in the final 20 minutes but the Cougars were never able to shake the Larks. A 5-0 run in the opening minute of the 2nd half on a jumper from Chris Cantino and a 3-pointer from DeVonte Grant gave Barton a 42-38 lead. The Cougars would never trail again but they were anything but comfortable. The Cougars appeared to have some control of the game when Beatty hit a jumper to cap back-to-back baskets by the sophomore and give Barton a 63-54 lead with 6:55 to play. But Hesston came storming back.

Hesston sophomore Chas Clemons was the catalyst for the rally, scoring 7 points in 26 seconds. Clemens hit a long-range 3 from the right wing and was fouled converting a 4-point play then added another 3-pointer the next trip down and suddenly it was 63-61 with 6:13 to play. The Larks tied the game at 65-all with 4:10 to play and again at 71-all with 2:14 to play.

That is when Beatty – on back-to-back trips – gave the Cougars separation. Grant found Beatty posted up on the block for a bucket and free throw following a foul for a 74-71 lead with 1:56 left then after a miss 3-pointer by Hesston, Beatty knocked down an open 3 of his own from Cantino with 1:31 left to give Barton a 77-71 lead. Hesston would get no closer than 6 as Barton hit 6-of-8 three throws in the final minute after struggling from the line most of the game.

Three more Cougars joined Beatty in double figures with Cantino scoring 16 points and grabbing 8 rebounds despite playing only 23 minutes due to foul trouble. Carl Wallace and Jalen Boyd each added 10 apiece. Beatty also led Barton in assists with 6 and Wallace snagged 4 steals to the lead the Cougars. Boyd added 7 rebounds as well. Clemens scored 23 to lead Hesston followed by Devon Lloyd with 20. Alex Roth had 15 rebounds to lead all players on the night.  

Stats
Stats can be found was www.bartonsports.com  

Next
Nov 12 – v Quakerdale Prep 7 pm (Barton Classic at the Barton Gym in Great Bend)
Nov 13 – v Frank Phillips 7 pm (Barton Classic at the Barton Gym in Great Bend)