Barton knocks off West co-leader Cloud; in hunt for home playoff game
The Barton County Community College men's basketball team stayed in the hunt for a home playoff game to start the Region VI Tournament in a few weeks with an 89-81 win over Jayhawk West co-leader Cloud County Saturday night at the Barton Gym. The Cougars improved to 5-6 in Jayhawk West play with just 5 regular season games remaining. Barton, which has seen any chance of a West title disappear, is sitting in 5th place in the West with the top 4 teams getting a home playoff game. The Cougars are just 1 game out of 4th place. Barton is now 17-7 overall. Cloud fell out of that tie for 1st in the West and is now 7-3 in West action and 15-9 overall. Barton will get another West co-leader Wednesday when Seward visits the Barton Gym. Seward is 8-2 in West play and 20-4 overall. The Saints are riding a 7-game winning streak, not having lost since Barton won 81-57 in Liberal. Barton has now won 5 of its last 8 West games.
Highlights
In typical Barton fashion, the Cougars fell behind early in the contest, trailing by as much as 7 at 14-7 just 4 minutes into the game. But the Cougars rallied, taking the lead less than 6 minutes later as Barton went on a 10-0 run to turn a 21-16 deficit into a 26-21 lead. That would be the 1st of 2 important 10-0 runs. The teams went to half knotted at 36-all and locked in a tight battle.
The opening portion of the 2nd half was filled with 3 ties and 4 lead changes as the teams see-sawed back and forth. But at the midway point, the Cougars put together another 10-0 run to grab control of the contest. Down 54-53 with just more than 13 minutes to play, Barton started the run with a free throw from Matt Simmons to tie the contest. The next trip down Chip Steven hit 1 of his 3 treys in the game for a 57-54 lead. After neither team could score for the next few possessions, Javon Parris hit a jumper for the Cougars followed by 2 free throws from Chris Jackson and Barton had a 61-54 lead. Sandy Perry ended the run with a tip in of a Steven miss to give Barton a 63-54 lead with 10 minutes to play.
Cloud whittled the lead to 3 points and eventually as close as 2 points at 68-66 but that is as close as the Thunderbirds would come to the Cougars. Barton led by 4 heading into the final minute of play where they knocked down 6-of-6 free throws from 3 different players to secure the win. Qa'rraan Calhoun scored 22 points to pace the Cougars – the highest point total since an identical 22 in Seward. His only higher output in Jayhawk West play was at Pratt when he scored 24.
Parris continued his good play of late, reaching double figures for the 6th straight game with 17 points. It was also the 8th time in the last 9 games he has had at least 5 assists, leading Barton with 6. Steven scored 13 – his 4th straight double figure game – and Perry added 10 points and 6 rebounds. Jemal Farmer made it 2 straight games an opponent reached 30 points against the Cougars with a 32-point outburst – 28 of those in a 2nd half that saw him knocked down 7-of-9 3-pointers.
With just 5 games left they are all pivotal the Cougars' hopes of getting a home playoff game, starting Wednesday with West co-leader Seward in the Barton Gym. Seward is the hottest team in the conference, riding that 7-game winning streak.
Stats
Stats can be found at www.bartonccc.edu/sports
Next
Wed Feb 13 – v Seward County, 8 pm (Jayhawk West contest at the Barton Gym in Great Bend)
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Check out Barton Basketball Online at www.bartonccc.edu/sports