Cougars win two midweek games; ready for Booster Club Classic
The Barton Community College men's basketball team swept to a pair of wins Tuesday and Wednesday at the Barton Gym, beating Fort Scott and the Sterling JV. The Cougars defeated Jayhawk East foe Fort Scott Tuesday by an 86-73 margin then trounced the Sterling JV 106-46. Barton is now 7-0 for the year with two more games this week as the Cougars play 4 games in 5 days. Barton will take on Eastern Oklahoma Friday and Brown Mackie Saturday during the Booster Club Classic at the Barton Gym. Tips for both games are slated for 7 pm.

Highlights
The final score Tuesday against the Greyhounds is a bit misleading as the Cougars led by 26 with 3 minutes to play in the game. But Barton did struggle to put some distance between themselves and Fort Scott for much of the contest. Barton led nearly the entire way using a 13-2 run to turn a 9-8 deficit in to a 21-11 lead. Barton led by single digits for much of the 1st half, pushing the lead to 39-28 at intermission.

In the 2nd half, the Cougars scored the opening four points and never led by less than double digits the rest of the way. The lead reached 20 with 11 minutes to play and eventually hit 26 with 6 minutes left as Barton led 75-49. Barton still led by 26 with 3 minutes to play at 82-56 before the Greyhounds rallied with a flurry in the final 3 minutes to cut the lead in half.

Nyika Williams led the way with 19 points after signing a letter-of-intent earlier in the day to play for the University of Pacific next season. He also had 9 boards to pace the Cougars. Corey Bingham added 15 and Josh Martin 14 for Barton. Martin collected his 2nd double-double from the point guard spot with 10 assists. Fort Scott was led by Kurklin Bohanon with 22.

The Cougars had very little trouble with the Sterling JV as Barton jumped to a 10-0 lead and was never challenged. Barton had leads of 37-12, 45-14, and eventually 52-19 at halftime on the way to the 60-point win. Dennan Morrow scored a career-high 20 in the win, as the freshman from Larned hit 6-of-9 3-pointers. As a team, Barton knocked down 15-of-27 3-pointers.

The competition should be better this weekend as Barton hosts the Booster Club Classic. Eastern Oklahoma is currently 1-4 on the season but lost 3 of those games to teams ranked in the Top 10. Eastern Oklahoma most recently lost by 10 at home to No. 1 ranked Cowley. The Mountaineers also have 2 losses to No. 8 Paris (Texas). Brown Mackie, a perennial power in Division II, is 3-3 this year.

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

Next
Nov 21 – v Eastern Oklahoma 7 pm (Booster Club Classic at the Barton Gym in Great Bend)
Nov 22 – v Brown Mackie 7 pm (Booster Club Classic at the Barton Gym in Great Bend)

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