The final three-minute stretch provided the difference maker Wednesday afternoon at the Gillmer K. Nellis Hall as the Barton Community College men's basketball team fell at Coffeyville Community College 75-65.
The Red Ravens opened the separation it needed with a 7-0 minute and half stretch gaining a six-point margin, then following a one of two trip at the free throw line by Modibo Sanogo rattled off six more at the charity stripe to open an 11-point edge with 24 seconds remaining spoiling the Cougars hopes of its' first sweep over Coffeyville since the 1993-94 season.
The loss sends the Cougars to 6-10 in conference play and 12-10 on the season while Coffeyville improves to 8-7 in the KJCCC and 11-10 overall. The Cougars will conclude its' two-game road trip Saturday afternoon in a 4:00 p.m. meeting at Cloud County Community College.
RECAP
Trailing 5-0 and eventually 7-2 to begin, two of eight Cougar Downing three pointers sparked a personal 6-0 run and eventual 11-0 Barton run giving the Cougars their largest lead of the game at 13-7 with 12:47 to play.
Maintaining the lead for the next two minutes, Coffeyville quickly closed the gap before ultimately taking the lead for the remainder of the opening half with an 11-0 run. Trailing by as many as six on separate occasions, the Cougars lingered around the chicken coop closing the opening half on a 7-2 run as a Downing triple followed by one of Myles Thompson's four first half buckets and a Trey Rolfs layup in transition sent Barton into the locker rooms trailing 37-36.
Scoreless over the opening three minutes of the second half, Barton's deficit reached seven till a Hannes Saar jumper and Downing trifecta brought it back within a pair.
Remaining within striking distance over the next four minutes a 10-0 Barton run powered by a pair of 5-0 personal runs by Downing and Trey Bates III pushed the Cougars in front 53-51 with 9:55 to play.
Swapping the lead over the next three minutes, Downing put the Cougars back in front with his seventh outside splash and a minute later a pair of Evans Kipruto tosses handed Barton its' final lead 61-60 with 3:33 to play.
Coffeyville grabbed the lead for good when Love Bettis canned his second straight and fifth three-pointer of the contest with 3:01 to go. The Cougars had chances down the stretch, but a 1-for-8 cold spell over the final three minutes diminished the hopes of a late rally with the Red Ravens knocking down 10-of-10 opportunities at the stripe putting the final margin at 75-65.
STATS
Barton won the battle behind the three-point line, connecting on (10-of-27) 37% three-pointers but missing out on the free opportunities in sinking just (9-of-19) 52.9% to the Red Ravens (19-of-21) 90.5%.
Opportunities provided the difference; the Red Ravens outrebounded the Cougars by a plus-five advantage while also making the most of the plus-four turnover margin in producing eight more points off miscues than the Cougars.
Barton had two players reach double figures, Downing leading the way with his fifth straight 20-plus performance finishing with 28 points on 8-of-15 shooting from outside tying for second most made in the program's single game output. The freshman also dished out a game high five assists. Bates III finished with 12 points as Thompson finished two points shy for the second straight game of posting his second double-double of the season while pulling down a game high and new career high 13 rebounds.
Bettis finished with 25 points on 5-of-8 shooting from outside to lead the Red Ravens. Deng Mayar had 18 points and 10 rebounds while AJ McBride closed out the double figure scoring for Coffeyville adding 10.