Comeback falls short as No. 13 Cougars lose 79-77 battle with No. 1 Hutchinson
Wednesday’s game at the Sports Arena lived up to the expectations of two nationally ranked teams all the way up to the final buzzer. Unfortunately for the No. 13 Barton Community College men’s basketball team, they were on the short end of most of the opportunities as the Cougars last second three-point attempt missed its mark and the nation’s top ranked Hutchinson Community College won the Jayhawk West battle 79-77. The loss drops Barton to 3-2 in conference play and 16-3 overall while Hutchinson improves to 4-0 and 18-0. The Cougars will have a week off from action before hosting Colby Community College on Wednesday January 23 at the Barton Gym. Game time is 7:30 p.m. for the conference matchup with a special court dedication ceremony honoring the contributions of Dr. L.T. and Sheila Fleske taking place at halftime.
The opening ten minutes featured seven lead changes until a 14-4 Hutchinson run gave Hutch its biggest lead of the half at 29-21 with 8:24 to play. Back-to-back inside buckets by Dominique Wilson brought the Cougars to within three points twice late in the first half but Hutch took a 38-33 lead to the break.
A quick 8-0 run by the Dragons to start the second half created a double-digit separation between the two teams for most of the second half. With Hutchinson leading 72-63 with 3:37 to play, Barton mounted its come-back leading to a frantic last twenty-one seconds.
Following an A.J. Spencer free throw, Algie Key was quickly fouled in the back court by Rozell Nunn. Making his first free throw, Key missed the second but was rebounded by Raphael Stephens as the Cougars trailed by four. Following a timeout, Kevin Kuteyi drained a trey from the top of the arc and the Cougars found themselves only down one with fourteen seconds to play.
With Hutch up 78-77, the Dragons Kadeem Allen missed two free throws giving Barton the opportunity to take the lead. Having numbers on the fast break Barton was unable to convert turning the ball back over to Hutch with five seconds remaining. Sending Allen back to the Dragon free throw line, Allen made the first but missed the second setting up a running Kuteyi desperation three-point attempt from well behind the arc. The ball sailed high of the goal as time expired and Hutchinson survived with the 79-77 win.
Turon Parker led four Cougars in double figures with twenty-one almost single handily keeping Barton in the game scoring seventeen of his points in the second half. Kevin Kuteyi scored sixteen including 3-of-5 from behind the arc while Dominique Wilson dropped twelve as both players helped Barton to a thirty-one to nine scoring advantage coming from the bench. Andell Cumberbatch scored ten points to round out the Cougars' double-digit scoring with Raphael Stephens leading all participants with eleven rebounds. Algie Key, who was held to six points including only one point in the second half, led all players with six assists.
Kadeem Allen, the reigning KJCCC player of the week, led four Dragons in double-digit scoring with twenty-two points. Alex Davis scored seventeen with Tafari Whittingham and A.J. Spencer scoring thirteen and ten points respectively.