Barton finishes West with 14-2 mark
The Barton County Community College men's basketball team put the finishing touches on the regular season Saturday night, rolling to an 80-55 win over Dodge City in the Civic Center at Dodge.
The win improves the No. 4 ranked Cougars to 27-3 overall and 14-2 in the West, giving the Cougars the Jayhawk West title by a 3-game margin. Along with that comes the top seed in the upcoming Region VI playoffs next week. That will begin Wednesday when Barton hosts KCK at 7 p.m. Dodge City finishes its season with a 13-16 overall record and a 4-12 West mark.
Highlights
The 14-win conference season ties this year Cougars for the 2nd most conference wins in school history. It was gave Barton its 4th West title in the past 6 years and the Cougars 7th overall.
Barton jumped out to an early lead on the Conquistadors and were never seriously threatened the entire basketball game. Barton jumped to a 38-21 lead by intermission and pushed the margin to as high as 30 points during the second half.
The Cougars played once again with the services of starting point guard Randy Pulley, who is still suffering from a shoulder injury. Robert Whaley also missed the game with a slight injury but is expected back for the Region VI opener Wednesday.
Justin Rose led Barton with 23 points, followed by Rodney Epperson with 13 and Tyler Luke with a career-high 12 points. Nouha Diakite added 11 points and a game-high 9 rebounds. Richard Chavez dished out 8 assists and Cody Rierson added 8 points in Pulley's absence.
Dodge City, who will travel to the East winner Coffeyville for 1st round Region VI action, was led by Brent Wilson with 14 points.
Stats
Stats can be found at www.bartonccc.edu/sports
Next
The Cougars begin Region VI playoff action at home Wednesday night against Kansas City, starting at 7 p.m. A win would pit Barton against the winner of the Cloud County/Allen County game. That quarterfinal match up would take place Sunday in Salina at 2 p.m.
-30-
Check out Barton County Men's Basketball Online at www.bartonccc.edu/sports