The recipe for a home loss were in place Wednesday evening as the Barton Community College men's basketball team had their modest three-game win streak come to an end 86-81 to Garden City Community College.
Coming off a buzzer beating hard fought win over 8th ranked Dodge City Community College on Saturday, the Cougars not only returned to the court looking to recoup the victory vibes but did so without the services of leading scorer and rebounder Joseph Locandro while facing a scorned Garden City squad looking to avenge Barton's win on the Broncbusters' home court back in November.
The loss drops Barton to 7-6 in conference play and 12-7 overall while Garden City, who is receiving votes in the latest national poll, improves to 8-5 in league and 13-5 on the season.
The Cougars will have a week to stew on the defeat as the bye in the schedule puts Barton back on the court next Wednesday at Cowley College for a 7:30 p.m. tip.
After each team took a turn leading by seven in first half action resulting in a 37-all score into the halftime break, Garden City surged ahead on a 7-0 run two minutes into the final frame leaving Barton playing the catch-up game throughout the rest of the contest.
Barton tied it up for the final time in the ensuing two minutes, keeping the gap manageable and within a possession multiple times in the final seven minutes. The Broncbusters held steady from each Cougar surge, shooting over 56% in the second half and drilling 5-of-5 behind the arc while also taking care of business from the free throw line as the region leading stripe shooting team sank 18-of-23 in second half play alone in sealing the victory.
Both teams shot well all the way around, hovering around the 50% mark from the field with Barton's 77.8% free throw shooting (21-27) trailing Garden City's 81.3% (26-32).
Garden City won the battle of the boards by seven against the Cougars' smaller lineup, gathering five more offensive boards resulting in a plus-15 advantage in second chance points.
Cougar Downing poured in sixteen second half points to lead Barton with 23 total while Cooper Jackson put together a career high 21 point night on 7-of-10 shooting including a perfect three-for-three behind the arc, to go along with, three steals. Mozae Downing-Rivers added 13 points and game high four assists with Aime Rutayisire contributing 11 points. Hannes Saar led Barton's rebound effort with 7 rebounds and added 8 points with Howard Johnson providing the only points off either team's bench by draining a three-pointer within his five points.
Four of Garden City's starters reached double-figures led by the monster double-double from Buru Naivalurua of 26 points and 16 rebounds while also leading the team with three assists. Jaborri McGhee collected eleven points from the stripe for a 25 point night, Boston Harker's 4-of-9 beyond the arc led to 17 points, and David Elliott drilled 3-of-4 treys for a 13 point night.