A modest 4-0 run is not normally a huge point in most basketball games but Wednesday night in Hesston, Kansas, twenty-three seconds were pivotal in Barton Community College men's basketball team escaping with a 62-53 win at Hesston College. Clinging to a four point lead with a little over two minutes to play, the Cougars got back-to-back steals and layups to push the lead to eight then held off the Larks' comeback to pick up the non-conference victory. The win improves Barton to 5-1 on the season and keeps Hesston winless on the season at 0-5. The Cougars will next play in the Legends Classic in Salina, Kansas, taking on Northwest Kansas Technical College at 3:00 p.m. Friday then wrap up the Classic on Saturday in a 1:00 p.m. game against Southeast Community College. All games of the Legends Classic will be held at the Student Life Center on the campus of Kansas State University-Salina and can be viewed on the Barton Sports Network at www.BartonSports.com.
The Cougars led by as many as eight in the first half but Hesston battled back with a 14-4 run to grab a 24-22 lead with 2:23 remaining in the half. Trey Unrau, who knocked down two first half treys, regained the lead a minute later only to have the Larks connect on two free throws to go back ahead. Back came the Cougars as Darius Bean's baseline power move handed Barton a slim 27-26 advantage at the break.
Despite building the lead out to five early in the second half, Barton couldn't shake the Larks and even briefly trailed by one midway through the half. Following the seventh tie in the second half, the ninth overall for the game, a Darryln Johnson offensive rebound and stick-back followed by a Darius Gibson steal and layup gave the Cougars a four point lead with 3:16 to play. Back came Hesston to cut the deficit in half but that's as close as the Larks would come. Travell Robinson grabbed a key offensive rebound from a Gibson miss which resulted in a Corley slash through the paint for a Cougar four point lead. Following a Barton timeout, the Cougars all but buried the Larks in the next twenty-three seconds. Corley got the first of two key steals with a theft near midcourt and outraced the Larks for an easy layup. Robinson then came up with a steal feeding Gibson for another layup and just like that Barton had built an eight point lead with 1:48 to play.
A Darrion Martin three-pointer briefly reduced the Lark deficit to five with just under a minute to play but Gibson was a perfect 4-of-4 from the charity stripe to secure the victory.
Darius Gibson just missed his second double-double of the season scoring fifteen second half points and grabbing nine rebounds. Tyler Corley scored fourteen while Raheem Johnson posted his first double-double of the season. Johnson grabbed seven offensive rebounds and sixteen total, while scoring ten points and leading the team with three steals and eight blocks.
Darrion Martin led Hesston with seventeen points while Beau Palmer scored fourteen. 