No. 15 ranked Cougars dominate Neosho to open up Thanksgiving Classic
The Cougars opened up the weekend's Best Western Angus Inn and Cougar Booster Club Thanksgiving Basketball Classic by dominating Neosho County Community College Friday night 89-62 The 9-0 and No. 15 ranked Cougars will play Hill College at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday night in what will be the Cougars' last game on the historic Barton gym floor.
Trailing 6-7 three and half minutes into the contest, Barton used a big 14-0 run to break open the first half. Turon Parker keyed the run with a three-pointer and Algie Key added his own five-point run to give Barton a 20-7 lead with 11:29 to play. The Cougars continued to dominate the next eleven minutes enroute to a twenty-nine point 49-20 halftime lead.
The Cougars continued to dominate the second half building leads of thrity-nine multiple times and reaching a forty-point advantage twice, the last coming at the 6:46 mark as Barton held a 80-40 advantage. With the second wave of Cougars on the floor, the lead never dipped below twenty-nine points the rest of the way until forty-seconds to play when Neosho's Dillon O'Dell knocked down a trey.
Algie Key and Turon Parker each contributed sixteen points and led five Cougars in double-digit scoring. Key also led Barton in rebounding as he recorded his second double-double of the season and ninth in his career. Also scoring in double digits were Andell Cumberbatch with thirteen points, Kevin Kuteyi with eleven, and Trey Unrau with ten including 3-of-6 from behind the arc. Jeremy Nolen was the lone Panther to reach double figures as he scored sixteen.