Getting nearly half their points from beyond the arc, the hot shooting Barton Community College men's basketball team closed out closed out the fall portion of the schedule Monday evening at the Barton Gym with a 98-69 win over Hesston College. The Cougars shot over 56% for the game including a 9-for-15 first half three-point performance as Barton finished with fourteen threes in cruising to the win. Averaging 92.6 per game for the season's first fifteen games, the Cougars fell just shy of scoring triple digits for the first time in five games. With Monday's win Barton improves to 11-4 on the season while dropping Hesston to 2-13. Finishing up academic finals this week, the Cougars will take over two weeks away from before returning to campus to prepare for a January 4 game at NJCAA Division II No. 13 ranked Brown Mackie College. Barton will then have a week away from competition before beginning Jayhawk Conference play on January 11 as the Cougars host Pratt Community College.
Deriece Parks led four Cougars in double-digit scoring with a career high twenty-three points. The 6'5" sophomore from Charlotte, North Carolina, knocked down 6-of-10 from long distance including a 3-for-4 first half performance. Tyler Corley also had a great night behind the arc with a 4-of-6 performance to score twenty-two to go along with a team high five assists. The Cougars also received normal solid performances from Isaac Williams and Darius Gibson as the pair scored nineteen and ten points respectively. Raheem Johnson led Barton in rebounding with eight as the sophomore from Michigan finishes the semester averaging 8.6 rebounds per contest.
Darrion Martin carried the Larks with a thirty-point performance with his 11-of-22 performance from the field while Davis Cook came off the bench to score eleven. Both Martin and Cook also led Hesston in rebounding with seven each. Also coming off the bench with solid performances was Austin Larkin and Lawrence Ammons as each scored nine points.
Other Notes:
In a brief recognition ceremony prior to tip-off, Barton men's basketball Head Coach Craig Fletchall was presented with a game ball by Athletic Director Trevor Rolfs commemorating Fletchall's 189th win at the Barton helm. The win came back on November 8th as the Cougars defeated Allen Community College 100-76 at the Coffeyville Classic in Coffeyville, Kansas. The victory moved Fletchall into the top spot of Barton coaching wins, surpassing Dan McGovern's 188 wins set during the 1986-1994 seasons.