A layup with 3.6 seconds provided the final difference maker as the Barton Community College men's basketball team fell 82-80 Monday night at the Barton Gym to Seward County Community College.
The loss, coupled with Dodge City's loss to Hutchinson, keeps the Cougars within a half game of second place in the West, slipping to 7-6 and 9-6 on the year while Seward County improves to 5-7 in both league and overall.
Barton will only have to wait less than two days for a bounce-back opportunity in welcoming Garden City Community College (6-6, 7-6) to the Barton Gym for a 7:30 p.m. tip.
Desean Munson's fourth double-double of the season led the Cougars to a plus-13 rebound edge in grapping 15 rebounds to go along with 16 points. Jaheim Holden also added 16 points, stuffing the stat sheet with a game high 8 assists, five rebounds, and four steals. Justin Harmon also had a solid all-around game with 15 points, grabbing five boards and dishing out six dimes. Evans Kipruto came off the bench for 12 points in just missing his second double by pulling down 9 rebounds and rejecting four Saints' shots.
Erik Pratt led all scorers, dropping 6-of-10 behind the arc to score 28 points and grabbing seven rebounds. Samuel Henderson's 3-of-4 long range shots contributed 15 points off the bench with Kevin Cooper adding 14 points.
RECAP
Trailing by three eight minutes in, the Cougars began to roll with thirteen straight over the next three minutes in taking a 28-18 lead with 9:08 to play. Kipruto had two dunks in the stretch, converting Holden's dime before two-hand finishing off Harmon's dish.
A Holden to Harmon distribution trail pushed the margin to a Barton largest lead of eleven points but the Saints mostly controlled the final 7:12 minutes of the half.
The Cougars went three minutes without scoring another point as the Saints put six straight on the board, canning their sixth trey of the half following Asanti Price's tough 17-footer to slice Barton's lead to 36-32.
A pair of Kipruto free throws temporarily stalled the Saints next surge of taking nine of the next eleven points to tie it up at 41 with a minute remaining. Harmon sent the Cougars to the locker room with the edge in sinking a pair of charity tosses for a 43-41 score.
Seward County took the lead with 14:56 left in the contest with Price's eighth and final point giving Barton its final time in front coming at the 14:43 mark.
Barton rallied to tie it three times with the Saints stingy on relinquishing the lead.
The Cougars found themselves trailing by four with a little over a minute to play but came up empty on an offensive rebound put back. Needing a defensive stop, the Cougars nearly got what they needed but Pratt split the defense late in the shot clock giving the Saints a six point lead with forty seconds.
Dropping just three made shots beyond the arc in the first 39 minutes, the Cougars knocked down two in the final thirty seconds. The first coming from Willie Lapoole and following a pair of Pratt free throws, Holden canned the next in front of Barton's bench with 13.6 ticks left.
Following a Barton timeout, the Cougars forced a turnover on the inbounds with Holden coming up with the steal and getting to the rack with 11.3 seconds left.
Making the first, Holden returned to the stripe after the Saints called their last time out, calmly sinking the back end of opportunity to tie it up at 83.
Breaking the full-court defense, Branton "Bee" McCrary avoided Holden's near steal attempt to regain possession to find a cutting Stephen Takyi on the baseline for an up and under layup for the lead. The Cougars immediately inbounded the ball but couldn't get a shot up in the final 3.6 seconds.