Cougars back on winning trek with 83-63 road victory at Dodge
The Barton Community College men's basketball team got back on the winning trek Saturday afternoon with an 83-63 road win over Dodge City at the Civic Center in Dodge. The 10th ranked Cougars used a big 1st half to build a lead on the Conquistadors on the way to the win, coming off the heels of just their 2nd loss in Jayhawk West play. Barton still leads the West with a 9-2 record and are now 22-3 overall. Dodge City fell to 3-8 in the West and 10-15 overall. Barton will be battling one of the teams with a chance to catch them for the West lead when Garden City comes to the Barton Gym Wednesday for an 8 pm tip. Garden is currently 3rd in the West with a 6-4 record in conference action. The Broncbusters are 16-8 overall.

Highlights
The Cougars used a run midway through the opening half to turn a 1-point contest into a double digit lead but it was an 11-0 run by sophomore standout Nyika Williams that really put some distance between the 2 teams. Freshman Taaj Ridley scored 7 points during a 16-7 run that gave Barton a 31-21 lead with 6 1/2 minutes to play. But the Cougars really opened things up behind Williams and his 11 straight points. Barton led 33-28 with 3 1/2 minutes left in the half when Williams started things with a layup on a nice feed from Scrap Martin. The next trip down Martin hit Williams for an alley-oop dunk and a 37-28 lead. Williams followed with 2 free throws on the ensuing possession then scored another layup from Chip Steven and added a free throw after the foul for a 42-28 lead. He concluded the run with another layup with 1:57 left for an 11-0 run in 1:29 for a 44-28 lead. Barton held that 16-point cushion at half, 48-32.

Dodge would briefly challenge midway through the 2nd half, using a 14-3 run to cut a 20-point Cougar lead to just 61-52 with 11 minutes to play. But Barton held off Dodge and led by double figures the rest of the way, eventually getting the lead back to 20 with the 83-63 final. The 20-point loss was the largest by Dodge City at home this season.

Barton had been plagued by turnovers recently but limited that number to just 14 in the win at Dodge. The Cougars blistered the nets at nearly a 60-percent clip, hitting 32-of-54 shots for 59 percent. Williams was limited to just 28 minutes of play due to foul troubles, but netted 25 points and grabbed 13 rebounds in the win. Those numbers are both the 2nd highest totals of any Cougar this year. Williams also has the top numbers with season-highs of 27 points and 18 rebounds.

He was hardly alone in having big games though as Ridley scored a career-high 18 points in the win. Cornelius Brown also had a big night for Barton as the freshman just missed a double-double with 13 points and 9 rebounds. Martin added 15 points and 9 assists in almost achieving a double-double of his own. Charles Coley led Dodge with 19 followed by Rodney Clinkscales with 17.

Barton can all but make the West a 2-team race Wednesday night when Garden City comes to the Barton Gym. A win by the Cougars would give them a 3-game lead in the loss column on all but one team with just 4 West games remaining. Butler (7-3) and Garden (6-4) are the only teams left in the West with less than 5 losses. Seward is the only 5-loss team with the other 5 teams all having at least 6 losses. A Barton loss, however, and at least 4 teams will still have hopes of a part of the West title.

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

Next
Feb 11 – v Garden 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