Barton one step closer to Jayhawk West title with win over Hutchinson
The Barton Community College men's basketball team rebounded from its worst loss of the season to take a step closer the school's 1st Jayhawk West title in 6 years. The Cougars knocked off rival Hutchinson, 81-69, at the Barton Gym Wednesday night to retain a 1-game lead in the loss column with just 2 games to play. Barton improved to 24-4 overall on the season and more importantly 11-3 in Jayhawk West action. Hutch fell to 17-10 and 6-7. Butler remains in 2nd with a 9-4 mark. The win secured Barton a home playoff game and at least a 2nd place finish in the West. Barton will be off Saturday before returning to action Wednesday at Colby.
Highlights
The 1st half was a back-and-forth affair as the teams traded the lead 8 times and were tied on 7 more occasions. The Blue Dragons led by as many as 6 in the early stages of the game but neither team could get a lead of more than 3 points for a 13 minute stretch in the half. Barton finally put a little separation between itself and Hutch with a 10-0 run in the final 2 minutes to briefly take a 9-point lead at 36-27 with 29 seconds left. Hutch added a late bucket to make it 36-31 at half. Nyika Williams paced Barton in the opening 20 minutes, scoring half of the Cougars points with 18.
Hutchinson hung around for a while in the 2nd half trailing just 46-45 with 12:34 to play. But Barton – who never trailed in the 2nd half – steadily worked the lead up until reaching a double digit cushion with 6 minutes to play on a pair of Marcus Butler free throws for a 65-54 lead. Hutch would get no closer than 7 points the rest of the way as Barton avoided back-to-back losses for the 1st time this season.
Williams made a strong statement for Jayhawk West Player of the Year, finishing the game with a career-high 30 points and 11 rebounds for his 6th double-double in West play and 9th overall this season. He connected on 9-of-13 shooting from the floor and 12-of-17 from the free throw line for the highest point total of any Cougar this year. During West play, Williams is averaging 17.4 points and 9.1 rebounds while hitting 72 percent (93-129) from the field and nearly 70 percent (58-84) from the free throw line. He is also blocking 2.4 shots per contest in conference action.
Corey Bingham had a big night as well, recording his 2nd double-double with 11 points and 11 assists. Bingham added 7 rebounds and 3 steals. Chip Steven scored 12 and Josh Martin 10 in the win. Darius Johnson-Odom had a big 2nd half for Hutchinson, scoring 16 of his team-high 22 points. Cliff Dixon added 14 points and 12 rebounds. The explosive Hutch duo did combine for 36 points in the game but did so on 12-of-36 shooting between the two. Austin Bond added 15 off the Hutch bench on 6-of-6 shooting including 3-of-3 on 3-pointers.
Barton will now get a week to rest some late-season bumps and bruises before hitting the road Wednesday at Colby. The Cougars will have a chance to wrap up at least a share of the West title with a win at the Community Building. The Cougars could win the title outright in Colby with a Butler loss either Saturday at home against Pratt or Wednesday at Cloud.
Stats
Stats can be found at www.bartonccc.edu/sports
Next
Feb 25 – at Colby 7:30 pm (Jayhawk West contest at the Community Building in Colby)
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Check out Barton Basketball Online at www.bartonccc.edu/sports