Cougars drop road contest at Seward County

The Barton County Community College men's basketball team was unable to start the Jayhawk West season off with back-to-back road wins, falling at Liberal Saturday night to Seward County, 80-74. The loss evened Barton County's West record at 1-1 while falling to 12-4 overall. Seward, which was ranked No. 16 in the NJCAA poll, improved to 1-1 and 13-3.

Highlights
The two teams traded the lead early in the contest before Seward County took a 41-36 halftime lead. Seward held that lead in the second half, pushing the lead to double digits, but the Cougars cut into the lead late before a late technical foul aided the Saints. Seward led by three when Robert Whaley blocked a shot out of bounds with 30 seconds left and 10 seconds on the shot clock. The officials felt the ball hit the rim and Coach Ryan Wolf did not and was called for the technical foul. Seward hit both free throws on the way to the win.

Jason Carter and Omari Westley scored 18 points to pace Barton County while Robert Whaley added 17. Dontaz Dean tossed in 25 to pace the Saints.

Next Up
The Cougars return home for the first time since Nov. 24 when Dodge City comes to town tonight. Dodge City is 2-0 in the West, sitting alone atop the conference.

Stats
Game boxes and cumulative stats can be found at the following website.

Barton County Men's Basketball Online at http://www.barton.cc.ks.us/sports/MB_01-02/mbasketball_01-02.htm