Breaks don’t go the way of Cougars, Barton men end season in El Dorado
The Barton Community College men’s basketball team just couldn’t get over the hump Saturday afternoon in El Dorado and when they did, a controversial finish would end the Cougars season losing to Butler Community College 63-59 in the first round of the Region VI playoffs. Barton ends the season 20-11 while Butler advances to the Region VI Quarterfinals at 22-9.
The Barton Community College men's basketball team just couldn't get over the hump Saturday afternoon in El Dorado and when they did, a controversial finish would end the Cougars season losing to Butler Community College 63-59 in the first round of the Region VI playoffs. Barton ends the season 20-11 while Butler advances to the Region VI Quarterfinals at 22-9.
Butler controlled most of the first half building out a ten point lead with 5:34 to play. Four points from Tyler Corley and four points from Rashawn Walker, including a thunderous dunk, got the Cougars back into the game trailing by two with three minutes to play.
Following a pair of Shomari Triggs free throws and a jumper by Deriece Parks, Butler closed out the remaining two minutes on a 5-0 run capped by Barton defensive breakdown allowing Bakari Triggs to drain a top of the key three pointer at the buzzer giving the Grizzlies the 33-26 intermission advantage.
A Corley three-pointer and a Darryln Johnson bucket in the paint brought the deficit to two in a matter of forty-seven seconds. A three pointer by the Grizzlies' Dominique O'Conner was met with 3-of-4 free throws by Darius Gibson and Corley. It was a sign of things to come as Barton could never get over the hump, setting up a dramatic ending.
In part to sharp shooting Isaac Williams' playing time limited to injury, Barton connected on only 3-of-17 behind the arc on the evening. The total would have been four and possibly a second straight first round road upset for the Cougars, but a pivotal charge call on Darius Gibson wiped out a Trey Unrau potential game-winning three-pointer with seven seconds remaining.
Adding insult to injury, Head Coach Craig Fletchall was issued a mysterious technical foul allowing Butler to put the game out of reach as Shomari Triggs iced both charity throws.
Barton had only two players reach double figures, led by the sophomore guard duo of Tyler Corley and Darius Gibson. Going 9-of-10 from the charity stripe, Corley led the Cougars with twenty-one points but was only 5-of-14 from the floor including 2-of-8 from long distance. Gibson finished with a team leading five assists to go along with fourteen points on 5-of-8 from the field and 4-of-5 from the free throw line. Gibson ends his Cougar career as the single season all-time leader in the Barton record books for free throw attempts (306) and second best season free throw made (204). Deriece Parks led a Cougar 34-27 rebound edge with eight while Raheem Johnson led in blocks with four.
Shomari Triggs led three Butler Grizzlies in scoring and assists dropping twenty-five points and dishing out five assists, sinking 11-of-12 from the free throw line and 6-of-12 from the field. Dominique O'Conner came off the bench to knock down 3-of-4 from behind the arc to score eleven while Larry Fitzgerald scored ten. Sean Goodwin led the Grizzlies in rebounding with eight.