Barton struggles at Cloud; falls to 0-3 in Jayhawk West
The Barton County Community College men's basketball team is still in search of its 1st Jayhawk West win of the season, dropping its 3rd straight conference contest to start the slate Wednesday night in Concordia. The Cougars were never in the game, losing to Cloud County 84-53 at Arley Bryant Gymnasium. Barton is now 12-4 overall this year. Cloud improved to 2-0 in the West and 10-6 on the season. It won't be an easy task Saturday going after that 1st West win again as Barton travels to Seward County to take on the Saints. Seward is 1-1 in the West and 13-3 overall. Tip will be at 7:30 from the Greenhouse in Liberal.

Highlights
For the 3rd straight West game, Barton got off to a slow start against the Thunderbirds. In the 1st 2 contests the Cougars were able to regroup and take the lead in those games. This time Cloud never let off the gas. The T-Birds jumped to a 12-0 lead in the 1st 3 minutes that stretched to 25-7 at the midway point. The lead grew to as high as 35-14 with 5 minutes left in the half before a slight Cougar rally cut it to 45-30 at half.

Barton still held slim hope with 11 minutes to play, trailing 56-40 but Cloud put the game away over the next 4 minutes, outscoring Barton 15-3 to take a commanding 71-43 lead with 7 minutes to play. The 31-point final margin was the biggest of the contest.

Barton shot just 33 percent from the floor, hitting 19-of-57 shots. Cloud hit 31-of-64 for 48 percent. The Thunderbirds also dominated the boards, out-rebounding Barton 49-32 with 18 of the Cloud rebounds on the offensive end. Those 18 rebounds resulted in 16 2nd chance points. The T-Birds also scored 28 points off 19 Barton turnovers.

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

Next 
Sat Jan 12 – at Seward County, 7:30 pm (Jayhawk West play at the Greenhouse in Liberal)

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Check out Barton Basketball Online at www.bartonccc.edu/sports