The Barton Community College men's basketball team built a seventeen point second half lead but had to fight off the Mavericks of Northwest Kansas Technical College for a nail biting final minute in prevailing 71-69 Saturday afternoon at the newly renovated Barton Gym.
Leading by one at the break, the Cougars owned the first ten minutes of second half play in opening up a 57-40 advantage. Outscoring Barton 11-3 in the next four minutes, Northwest Tech crept back in the game drawing to within six. Later trailing by eight with 1:33 to play after Stefan Spray's low block bucket from Mozae Downing-Rivers' career high 12th assist, the Mavericks cut the deficit to just two with 33 seconds left following just their fifth three-pointer of the contest. A 1-of-2 trip to the line from Downing-Rivers with ten seconds left the door ajar for a potential tie.
Getting a good look at a trey in front of the Mavericks bench, the Cougars were whistled for a foul sending Zaire Hayes to the free throw line for three shots with just .5 on the clock. Missing the first but making the second, Hayes' attempt to bang the third toss off the rim was negated leaving Barton to inbound in running out the clock.
The tenth consecutive win in the series improves Barton to 5-5 and a sixth place tie in conference play and 10-6 overall while Northwest Tech's fourth straight loss drops the Mavericks to 3-7 in league and 7-8 overall.
A Wednesday road trip is next on the schedule for Barton in traveling to Colby Community College for a 7:30 p.m. tip-off.
Four Cougars reached double figures led by Cougar Downing's 17 points. The sophomore helped Barton to an 18-9 lead in the first six minutes knocking down four three pointers, finishing the night 5-of-10 from deep helping lead the Cougars to over 33% shooting beyond the arc for the first time in five games as the club ended the night 9-of-21 (42.9%).
Hannes Saar put together a workmanlike 16 point game with Downing-Rivers next on the scoresheet with his second collegiate double-double by scoring 12 points on 4-of-6 shooting, to go along, with his 12 assists and two steals. Joseph Locandro added 10 points and secured five offensive rebounds to finish with eight total.
Taiden Conner led the Mavericks with 15 points and three assists, Ethan Yancy contributed 13 points off the bench, and Arthur Celestin added 10 points as the lone Mavericks in double-figures.
Downing's hot start of draining four of his first five beyond the arc got Barton off to a good start but the Mavericks fired back with a 13-2 stretch to take the lead at 21-20 with 9:53 left.
Four straight points from Ring Malith regained the Cougar advantage but a four minute drought and nine straight by the Mavericks resulted in a visitor 30-24 lead for their largest of the game.
Cooper Jackson, the Region VI theft leader and leading the team with three on the afternoon, scored his lone points on a triple with Saar following on the next Cougar possession canning his lone trey tying it back up. Following a Maverick bucket to halt the run, the Cougars closed out the half on a 5-1 stretch to take a one point edge to the locker room.
Still leading by one four minutes into second half action, the Cougars owned the next three minutes scoring 11 straight for a 50-38 lead.
Following a Maverick bucket, Amiri Ndayisaba's jumper, Downing's 5th triple of the game, and a pair of Saar charity tosses contributed to a 7-0 spurt pushing the gap to its largest at 57-40 with 10:47 remaining.