No. 19 Cougars escape with overtime road victory in Pratt
For the third time in four trips to the Dennis Lesh Sports Arena, the Barton Community College and Pratt Community College men’s basketball teams went to overtime and for the fifth straight year the Cougars picked up the victory winning 62-60 on Saturday. Barton improves to 5-2 in conference play and 18-3 overall while Pratt drops to 2-5 in conference play and 12-9 overall. The Cougars next two games will be at the Barton Gym beginning on Wednesday against Cloud County Community College then Saturday against Seward County Community College. Both contests scheduled for a 7:30 p.m. tip-off.
Barton trailed by six at the midway point of the first half until a Cougars' 10-0 run put them ahead 18-14 with four to play. Trading baskets the rest of the half Barton went into intermission with a slim 24-22 lead.
Tied at thirty-one the Beavers scored six straight and maintained the lead to the media timeout at 9:46. After the break the Cougars went on a 6-0 run keyed by an Andell Cumberbatch stick-back and Algie Key hoop-n-harm to draw the Cougars to within two with seven and half to play.
Barton battled back to take its first lead since the second half on an inside move by Dominique Wilson but Pratt responded to regain the lead 50-49 with 4:33 to play.
Tied at 53 and 1:56 to play and coming out of a Pratt timeout, the Beavers seem to grab momentum as Kazmere Boyd slammed home a back door alley-oop dunk from Randall Rogers. Cumberbatch answered back for the Cougars twenty seconds later working inside to tie the contest. After another Boyd basket with just under a minute to play, Key sliced through the lane for the game's' tenth tie with just thirty-seven seconds remaining.
Needing a defensive stand to eliminate potential defeat, the Cougars forced the Beavers to launch a deep off-balance three-point shot before the shot clock expired that glanced off the rim and out of bounds. With only 5.7 seconds remaining, Key drove the ball through the lane getting it knocked away into the hands of Raheem Johnson. Johnson immediately took it up and stuck it in but time expired before the ball could release his hands and the game was headed to overtime.
With the Cougars clinging to a 61-60 lead and thirty-six seconds remaining, Turon Parker stole the ball from Boyd giving Barton the chance to preserve the victory. Key, who made 8-of-13 free throws on the night, made the second of his two with twenty-two seconds giving Pratt one last opportunity for the tie or win.
Much like the waning seconds of regulation and needing one last defensive stop, the Cougars' pressure defense kept the Beavers from getting a good shot off and Key snagged the rebound and ran out the clock to secure Barton's fifth straight win in Pratt.
Key and Cumberbatch again led the Cougars in scoring and were the only two to reach double-figures. Key recorded his fourth double-double of the season scoring twenty-two points to go along with a game leading eleven rebounds. Cumberbatch just missed his fifth double-double in seven conference games in scoring fifteen points and nine rebounds.
Pratt's DeShun Roberts and Randall Rogers led the Beaver charge scoring fourteen points each with Kazmere Boyd scoring ten.