Cougars rally then hold off Colby for Jayhawk West win

Cougars rally then hold off Colby for Jayhawk West win

The Barton Community College men's basketball team escaped the Barton Gym Wednesday night with a 65-64 win. The Cougars had to rally from a 15-point 1st half deficit then hold off Colby on a pair of occasions in the final seconds to secure the Jayhawk West win. It was Barton's 4th win in its last 5 West games as the Cougars improved to 4-3 in the conference and 16-5 overall. Colby fell to 1-7 in the West and 10-12 overall. Barton will be back on the road this weekend when the Cougars travel to Pratt to complete the 1st time through the conference. Pratt will bring a 2-5 West record to the game and an 11-10 overall record. Tip is set for 8 pm.  

Highlights
Barton struggled the opening 20 minutes then survived the final seconds for the win. Freshman Jalen Boyd gave Barton a 65-64 lead on a pair of free throws with 16 seconds to play. It was the 6th time the lead changed hands in the final 4 minutes of the game. It would also be the last. Colby's Hurley Johnson was whistled for a charging foul with 10 seconds to play. But the Cougars turned the ball right back over on a traveling call on the inbounds after Storm Sanders got trapped along the sideline with 8 seconds left. Colby went back to Johnson who penetrated the lane but was stripped of the ball by Adam Young. Young lightly tossed the ball to the other end of the court to let time expire and give Barton the win.

The exciting finish didn't look probable after the Cougars fell behind by as many as 15 points in the opening 20 minutes of play. Barton did lead 11-4 after a sluggish opening 7 minutes from both teams. Colby then caught fire ignited by 4 3-pointers over the next 4 minutes to take an 18-14 lead. The Trojans continued to score while Barton struggled to do so and with 2:10 to play in the half Colby lead 39-24 following its 7th trey. Barton went to half behind 40-27. In that half Colby hit 7-of-14 3-pointers while Barton struggled to an 8-of-30 effort from the field for 27 percent.

Barton didn't waste much time getting itself back on the game in the 2nd half as Colby struggled to score. The Trojans scored just one point the opening 7 minutes of the half as Barton cut the lead to 41-40 on a Young offensive rebound and basket with 13:26 to play in the game. Barton tied it on a Young 3-pointer at 43-all then got the lead on a Sanders 3-pointer for a 46-45 advantage with 12 minutes left.

The teams traded leads for a while then Barton went on a 5-0 run late to take a 61-57 advantage with 2:43 left. Boyd knocked down a 3-pointer from the left wing and Dwayne Brunson scored on a layup from Sanders to give the Cougars that 4-point lead. But Colby answered with a 3-pointer – the Trojans only trey of the 2nd half – and the slugfest to the end was on.  

Barton was led by Brunson with 17 points followed by Young and Sanders with 10 each. Young collected the double-double with 10 rebounds as well. Sanders handed out 5 assists and Boyd led Barton with 2 steals. Carson Konrade scored 18 to lead Colby followed by Johnson with 16. Michael Morris had 13 rebounds for game-high honors on the board.

The Cougars will get back on the road where they have seemed more comfortable of late with the trip to Pratt. In its last 2 road outings, Barton won at Garden by 20 and at Hutch by 7. The Cougars won last year at Pratt in a thriller, 100-96 in overtime on the final night of the regular season.  

Stats
Stats can be found was www.bartonsports.com  

Next
Jan 29 – at Pratt 8 pm (Jayhawk West game at Lesh Sports Arena in Pratt)