Run through the region ends for Cougars in championship game
Some games in sports a team performs in an unbeatable manner while the other team’s efforts seem futile in comparison. Saturday’s Region VI Championship was one of those games as the No. 24 Barton Community College men’s basketball team ran across a hot No. 9 Hutchinson Community College team falling 74-57 at Park City’s Hartman Arena. After getting a road quarterfinal win at Cowley College earlier in the week and a day removed after eliminating the Jayhawk West champions Seward County Community College, the Cougars got behind early and never recovered in concluding their season at 28-6. The 31-3 Blue Dragons advance to represent Region VI for the first time since 1997 in the upcoming NJCAA Division I Tournament.
Racing out to a sixteen point lead in the game's first seven plus minutes, the Blue Dragons made eight of their first ten shots including three-of-four behind the arc as Barton played catch up all night. An 8-0 run by the Cougars cut the lead to eight in the next four minutes only to have Hutchinson counter with its own 7-0 run. Barton would cut it to eight again later in the half but a five point answer by the Blue Dragons would lead to a 36-24 halftime advantage.
Much like the first half, Hutchinson was hot coming out of the locker room essentially sealing the victory in the half's first seven minutes outscoring the Cougars by twelve. The lead stayed in the twenties until a Trey Unrau baseline trey cut the deficit to the final 74-57 margin.
For the contest Hutchinson shot 50% from the field including a 5-for-9 performance behind the arc in the first half. After a 31% dismal first half, the Cougars shot 43% in the second half to finish at 37% but knocked down only three of seventeen from behind the arc. As hot as Hutchinson was from the outside, the Blue Dragons were just as effective inside the paint outscoring the Cougars by sixteen and winning the battle on the boards 41-35.
Sophomore Algie Key led Barton in scoring with fifteen as only two other Cougars reached double-digit scoring. Sophomore Andell Cumberbatch scored thirteen and just missed a double-double leading Barton with nine rebounds while freshman Kevin Kuteyi scored ten.
Freshman Kadeem Allen led five Blue Dragons in double-digit scoring with fifteen points. Sophomore A.J. Spencer scored fourteen while fellow sophomores D'Von Campbell and Rozell Nunn scored twelve while Alex Davis scored eleven.