The 20th ranked Barton Community College men's basketball team led for the final thirty-three minutes Wednesday night on the road to knock off 13th ranked Dodge City Community College 84-67.
Battling point-for-point until the last gridlock at 12-all, a 6-0 run put the Cougars ahead for good with another eight straight following for a 14-2 stretch breaking the game open. The margin grew to seventeen in going to the halftime break one point slimmer at 42-26, keeping Dodge City at atleast a twelve-point arm's reach to eventually build a twenty-four point late gap to complete the season sweep over the conference champions.
Barton concludes the regular season slate on a seven game win streak, securing the region's third seed at 17-7 and 22-8 overall. Dodge City, with the aid of Coffeyville's Wednesday loss at Northwest Tech, claims the outright conference title at 18-6 and 22-8 on the year.
Like the Barton women, the Cougars will have a six day break before their next action in the Region VI Quarterfinals taking place with Tuesday, March 7. Barton will host Saturday's victor of 6th seeded Hutchinson's hosting of 11th seeded Northwest Kansas Technical College in a 7:30 p.m. tip-off at the Barton Gym. The quarterfinal winner will then advance to Friday's 7:00 p.m. semifinal at Wichita's Friends University.
Leading four Cougars in double figures on the night was Hannes Saar with 19 points, knocking down 3-of-4 beyond the arc in key moments of the contest and 7-of-9 overall in filling the void left by Cougar Downing and Mozae Downing-Rivers in being saddled with foul problems most of the night. Downing canned two behind the arc and added 7-of-9 from the free throw for 15 points in twenty-eight minutes to move into the 8th slot of program career scoring while Downing-Rivers' thirteen minutes produced just four points and held without an assist for the first time since November 22.
Barton's big men of Joseph Locandro and Aime Rutayisire combined for 26 points and 16 rebounds helping Barton to a plus-9 rebound advantage. Locandro posted his 11th double-double of the year by scoring 16 points and hauling down 11 rebounds with Rutayisire adding 10 points and 5 rebounds.
The Cougars shot 50% in the game including a 4-of-6 effort off the bench in the 9 point effort from Ring Malith but were also strong defensively by limiting the Conquistadors to just 37.7% from the field and 14.3% beyond the arc including holding the region's second leading scorer Jason Edwards to sixteen points below his average with just 8 points.
DJ Jones led Dodge City with 15 points, the Conquistadors getting 12 points off the bench by former Cougar Shawn Warrior, and Chris Robinson adding 11 points.
Barton broke the last of the three ties and lead changes on the 6-0 spurt with another eight getting tacked on following Dodge City's lone bucket in a four minute span. The twelve point margin grew by seven more in another four minute span on a 9-2 stretch for a seventeen point gap with just under six to play.
With Dodge City shooting just 31.6% in the first half, the Cougar offense distributed the scoring amongst six players, Downing leading with 11 points with Saar contributing 12 points in knocking down a pair of treys in key moments halting Dodge City from gaining momentum.
Leading by sixteen at halftime, Barton withstood the early Conquistador charge out of the locker room to never allow the margin to slip under twelve, dashing the second half enthusiasm with an 8-0 run to lead by twenty with 15:25 left.
Over the next eight minutes Dodge City inched away to slice the margin back down to fifteen but Locandro's six points helped spark a two-minute 9-2 stretch all but putting the game away with 5:25 left and a twenty-two point advantage.
Game Notes:
- Region VI steals leader Cooper Jackson had just one steal, the fewest since January 28 versus Hutchinson
- Region VI assist leader Mozae Downing-Rivers finished with zero assists in his thirteen minutes of action, the fewest since December 12 at Butler
- Joseph Locandro's 11 rebounds marked the 11th time exceeding ten or more rebounds in his twenty-five games played.
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 (251 *3 from Ebi Ere's 254 total from 1999-01 seasons, 8 from Jim Graham's 259 total from the 1976-78 seasons)
- 2nd in career 3-pt attempts (461 *15 from Mark Bell's 466 total from the 1989-91 seasons)
- 3rd in career made 3-pt (159 *9 from Chip Steven's 168 total from the 2007-09 seasons)
- 7th in career FG attempts (849 *15 from Eric Bush's 864 total from the 1999-01 seasons)
- 8th in career scoring (1104 *Passed Eric Bush's 1103 total from the 1999-01 seasons, 31 from Shawn Copes' 1135 total from the 1989-91 seasons)