Barton beats Dodge City in Jayhawk West play

The Barton Community College men's basketball team picked up a much-needed win Wednesday night as the Cougars defeated Dodge City at the Barton Gym in the Cougars' home-opener in Jayhawk West play. Barton won the contest 77-61 to improve to 1-2 in the West after opening with a pair of road losses. Barton is 13-4 overall. Dodge City fell to 1-2 in the West and now stands at 12-5 overall on the season. The Cougars will be back on the road Saturday when Barton travels to Garden City to take on the Broncbusters in 7:30 pm tip at the Perryman Athletic Complex.

Highlights
The Cougars led most of the contest and never trailed by more than 3 points in but it wasn't until midway through the 2nd half before Barton had built a comfortable margin. The Cougars were very efficient on offense in the opening 20 minutes which saw 6 lead changes and 4 ties. Barton hit nearly 50 percent from the floor and produced 14 assists on 17 baskets on the way to a 40-35 lead. The Cougars also had 9 offensive rebounds in the half. The problem was Dodge hit 63 percent from the floor led by Tyshon Pickett who had 16 points in the opening 20 minutes on 6-of-8 shooting on the inside.

The 2nd half – defensively – was a different story. Dodge City scored just 26 points in the half and made just 9-of-28 shots from the floor for 32 percent. The Cougars were able to keep Dodge City point guard Bruce Massey in check most of the night with a variety of defenses on the sophomore standout. Massey did finish the game with 15 points but 8 of those came in the final 4 minutes and 11 after the Cougars had already built a comfortable double-digit lead on the Conquistadors. Pickett was another story, however, as the 6-6 freshman scored 25 on 10-of-14 shooting.

Barton began to take control of the contest early in the 2nd half. The Cougars built a 9-point lead quickly before Dodge City trimmed it 46-39 with 16:35 to play in the game. The Cougars followed with a 9-3 run to snag a 55-42 lead on the Conqs. Jalen Boyd started the run with a fast-break layup from Storm Sanders off an Adam Young steal. Young made it 50-40 and gave Barton its initial double-digit lead on a jumper with 14:48 to play in the game. After Massey tipped in an offensive rebound for his 4th point of the game to cut the Barton lead to 50-42 the Cougars scored 5 straight. Dwayne Brunson pushed it back to 10 with a layup from Devonte Grant and Colin Beatty knocked down a 3-pointer for a 55-42 lead with 12:40 left. The lead would be in double figures the rest of the night getting as high as 18.

Brunson led 3 Cougars in double figures with 20 points to go with 8 rebounds. Beatty scored 17 points and grabbed 6 boards. Young just missed his 3rd straight double-double with 12 points and a team-high 9 rebounds. Sanders led the Cougars with 9 assists to go with 0 turnovers in his 33 minutes at the point guard spot. As a team Barton turned the ball over just 10 times and had a stellar 25 assists on 30 baskets.

Barton will be looking for its 1st road win Saturday with the trip to Garden City. Things weren't very pretty last year in Garden as the Cougars were thrashed at the Perryman Athletic Complex. Garden won by an 83-55 score in a game the Broncbusters led by 48 (74-26) with 13:50 to play in the game.  

Stats
Stats can be found was www.bartonsports.com  

Next
Jan 15 – at Garden 7:30 pm (Jayhawk West game at the Perryman Complex in Garden City)