Barton sweeps foes in easy wins at Jayhawk Shoot Out
The Barton Community College men's basketball team rolled to a pair of easy wins at the Jayhawk Shoot Out this past weekend in Coffeyville. The Cougars pulled away in the 2nd half Friday night in an 81-53 drubbing of Independence then put Labette away in the opening half Sunday on their way to a 101-56 win. Barton is now 12-1 on the season with the sweep with just one non conference tilt left before January and Jayhawk West season. Barton will travel to Salina to take on Brown Mackie on New Year's Eve.

Highlights
Barton and Indy were locked in a battle during the opening 20 minutes. Barton never trailed in the half but saw an early lead of 19-9 dwindle away to a 28-all tie before the Cougars took a 30-28 to the locker room on a pair of free throws by Corey Bingham. The 2nd half started much the same way with Indy taking its only lead of the game at 31-30 as the two teams battled for the lead the opening couple of minutes. But with the game tied at 34-all – the 4th and final tie of the game – Barton put the hammer down. A Marcus Butler basketball at the 17:50 mark started a 9-0 run. Martin keyed the run with back-to-back steals and layups and Chip Steven put an exclamation point on it with a trey for a 43-34 lead.

Barton, however, didn't stop there. The Cougars pushed the lead to 48-36 then 56-38. Barton continued to pull away reaching a lead of 67-42 on a dunk by Nyika Williams and eventually a high of 77-46. Martin led the way with 15 points on 7-of-9 shooting from the field. Butler, Williams, and Steven each added 12 points and Bingham 11 as Barton put 5 players in double figures. Bingham led Barton with 5 assists while Steven added 4 assists and 4 steals. Williams collected 8 rebounds for the Cougars.

Sunday the Cougars hit Labette with a knock-out punch the final 13 minutes of the opening half. Barton led just 16-12 with 12:50 to play in the opening half but that was the final time the outcome was in doubt. The Cougars proceeded to put a 27-0 run on the Cardinals, pushing the lead to 43-12 before Labette finally hit a pair of free throws with 2:02 to play in the opening half. Those would be the only points the rest of the opening half as Barton pushed its lead to 49-14 by intermission. Labette finally broke it drought from the field with a bucket one minute into the 2nd half. Barton never led by less than 26 in the 2nd half with the Cougars largest lead coming with the final of 101-56.

Six Cougars found double figures with Martin and Taaj Ridley leading the way with 15 each. This time Martin was perfect from the floor at 3-for-3 but more importantly hit 8-of-9 from the free throw line coming into the game under 50 percent on the season. Butler, Williams, and John Schneider all scored 11 while Bingham added 10. Cornelius Brown grabbed 9 rebounds to lead Barton as the Cougars won the battle of the boards by a resounding 67-31 margin. In all, 7 Cougars had at least 6 boards. Martin added 5 assists while Matt Simmons blocked 3 shots.

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

Next
Dec 31 – v Brown Mackie 2 pm (at the St. John's Military Gym in Salina)
Jan 3 – at Cloud 8 pm (Jayhawk West contest at Bryant Gym in Concordia)