Barton drops 2nd straight in West; falls into 2nd place
The Barton County Community College men's basketball team lost back-to-back games for the 1st time this season and also lost at home for the 1st time this season, falling to Dodge City Wednesday night at the Barton Gym, 45-43. The contest was the lowest point total at home in school history. The previous low was 50 against Trinity Valley (Texas) in 1995. It was the 4th lowest total in school – 3 of which are to Dodge City. Barton falls into 2nd place with the West loss at 7-3 along with Dodge. Garden City, 8-2, is in sole possession of 1st place. The Cougars now face back-to-back road trips at Cloud County and Seward County starting Saturday in Concordia.

Highlights
The game was slow paced from the outset. Barton struggled from the opening tip, falling behind 14-9 and ending up playing catch up nearly the entire game. Barton his just 10-of-31 shots in the opening half and put just 26 points on the board. Fortunately for the Cougars, Dodge City didn't fair much better, hitting just 10-of-23 shots but did knock down 7-of-11 3-pointers to grab a 30-26 at the half.

The 2nd half wasn't any better. Barton went scoreless the opening 5 minutes of the 2nd half to fall behind 35-26 with 15 minutes to play. Dodge kept that lead near 7 the next 7 minutes, pushing it to 42-32 with 8 minutes left in the game. That is when Barton went on a very slow 11-0 run. The Cougars took a 43-42 lead on the Conqs – their only lead of the 2nd half – when Matt Green knocked down a 3-pointer with 2:11 to play in the contest.

But Dodge immediately came down the floor and retook the lead with 1:55 left and neither team scored the next 1:40 of the contest. The Cougars missed a shot and turned the ball over twice in their quest of the lead. Dodge hit a free throw with 12 seconds to play to take a 45-43 lead but the Cougars turned the ball over the next trip down the floor.

Barton was led by Thiago Cordeiro with 15 points and 11 rebounds. Omar Johnson didn't reach double figures for the 1st time this season, scoring just 8. Jase Herl scored 12 for Dodge.

Stats
Full stats can be found at www.bartonccc.edu/sports

Next
Sat, Feb 10 – at Cloud, 8 pm (Jayhawk West contest at Bryant Gym in Concordia)

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Check out Barton County Basketball Online atwww.bartonccc.edu/sports