23rd ranked Cougars blow open second half to cruise 79-65 at Northwest Tech #GoBarton

The 23rd ranked Barton Community College men's basketball team pushed a three point halftime edge to a twenty-four point margin in cruising the final four minutes to pick up a 79-65 victory Wednesday night at Northwest Kansas Technical College.

The Cougars never trailed in the contest, building a fifteen point first half advantage until finding itself tied at 27 with two minutes remaining. Breaking the third and final tie in going on to lead by three at the break, the Cougars' second 15-0 run of the contest pushed the margin to its largest of twenty-four with 4:31 in cruising to its 11th straight win of the series.

Barton stays tied for third place of the conference standings with the victory, improving to 15-7 and 20-8 overall while the Mavericks second straight loss drops to 12th at 5-17 and 10-18 on the year.

Winners of a season best five straight, Barton will put its streak on the line in Saturday's "Sophomore Day" hosting of Colby Community College at 4:00 p.m. for the Cougars' regular season home finale.

Cougar Downing matched his season high 29 points, dropping four of his five three-pointers in first half action while adding a perfect 12-of-12 from the charity stripe to match the program's 6th best single game free throw shooting.

Missing five games to injury but finding his stride in his fifth game back on the court, Joseph Locandro posted his 10th double-double of the season by coming off the bench for 19 points and 11 rebounds.

Mozae Downing-Rivers rounded out the Cougars' double-digit scoring with 10 points, connecting on his lone three-pointer staking Barton out to an early 5-0 lead, going on to add a team high 9 assists and 2 steals.

A pair of Downing treys on either side of Locandro's first bucket led a 8-2 stretch opening up an early six point lead. The margin grew to eleven on a 9-0, five minute stretch with Aime Rutayisire getting into the scoring column and Downing knocking down his then third triple. Two minutes later another Rutayisire bucket followed by Downing's fourth long range net splash pushed the gap to fifteen at 27-12 with 7:36 remaining.

The threat to blow the Mavericks out of the gym went by the wayside for the next six minutes as Barton's 57% shooting dissipated as Northwest Tech scored fifteen straight to tie it up at 27 with two minutes left.

Locandro ended the drought then following the game's final tie at 29, added a pair of free three throws with Downing sinking another pair with eight ticks on the clock for a 34-31 break lead.

Barton maintained at least a four point lead through the second frame's first ten minutes until a combination of events sent the game into a runaway.

In the course of four minutes, the game saw a double-technical and another pair of Maverick technical fouls while Barton's composure and Downing going 6-of-6 from the stripe helped build the lead out. Pin-point passing from Downing-Rivers to Rutayisire and Locandro capped the 15-0 run for a 69-48 lead with 5:46 left.

Following a Maverick bucket to end the drought, Downing-Rivers' jumper, another pair of Downing charity tosses, and Amiri Ndayisaba 1-of-2 free throws pushed the margin to its largest at 74-50 with 4:31 remaining.

Retiring all starters to the bench, Barton was outscored by ten in the final moments with Howard Johnson accounting for four of the Cougars' points with a top-of-the-key three pointer and a 1-of-2 trip to the line in closing out the visitor's scoring of the evening.

Game Notes:
- Cougar Downing finished 5-of-9 in three-pointers – making 5 or more in a game for the 6th time of the season and 15th time in his Barton two-year career
- Joseph Locandro's 10th double-double of the year was his first since December 10 versus Pratt
- Cooper Jackson finished with two steals, snapping a six-game streak of three or more steals for the nation's leader

Record Book Watch and Impacts:
Cougar Downing:
- 6th best single game free throw shooting (12-12 *Already has program 3rd best 13-13 performance last season)
- 4th in made career free throws (244 *10 from Ebi Ere's 254 total from 1999-01 seasons)
- 2nd in career 3-pt attempts (436 *30 from Mark Bell's 466 total from the 1989-91 seasons)
- 3rd in career made 3-pt (153 *15 from Chip Steven's 168 total from the 2007-09 seasons)
- 7th in career FG attempts (830 * 34 from Eric Bush's 864 total from the 1999-01 seasons)
- 9th in career scoring (1075 *28 from Eric Bush's 1103 total from the 1999-01 seasons)