The Barton Community College men's basketball team used a balanced attack and a season high shooting performance for a 101-82 victory over Cowley College Saturday evening at the Barton Gym. The Cougars put fifty-three first half points on the board finishing with five players reaching double-digits in shooting 65% on the night to excede the century mark for the second time this season. Improving to 9-0, the Cougars share the top spot in the Jayhawk standings at 5-0 while dropping Cowley to 2-3 and 5-4 on the year. Barton's next action will come on Wednesday as the Cougars travel to Iola for an 8:00 p.m. tip against Allen County Community College.
Doubling his season output in the first half alone, Noah Webster led the Cougars with a career high seventeen points on 8-of-11 shooting including a two-handed rim shaker sparking a pivotal first half separating run. Fellow bench mate John Barbee fell just a point shy of his career high finishing with sixteen points knocking down seven of his eight shots while also leading the team with three steals and Malik Toppin posted his fourth double-double of the season scoring fifteen points with twelve rebounds. Malik Rhodes and Charles Norman added eleven each with Norman eclipsing his previous high of eleven. Jahlil Rawley led with three assists and scored seven points while Devonte Barker and Anthony Smith just missed double-digits finishing with nine points each.
Derieko Smith and Mike'l Simms led the Tigers with seventeen each with Ryker Pierce scoring ten while leading with six rebounds.
Both teams shot the ball well from the field including a hot second half with Barton shooting 65.4% while Cowley also had an impressive 57.1% to finish at 51.6% for the game including 38.1% from beyond the arc. The Cougars launched just six long balls to Cowley's twenty-one on the night with the lone connection coming in the final minute from Barbee. With Cowley owning a slight four rebound edge including a plus six on the offensive glass, Barton countered forcing seventeen Tiger turnovers for a thirteen point margin and a twelve point difference coming off the bench.
In a tightly played opening ten minutes, Drake Spence's offensive rebound stick back gave the Tigers their last lead at 22-20 with 10:14 on the clock. Webster led the lighting of the flame from the Barton bench with two in the lane jumpers before Barbee's slashed to the hole for six more tacking on a 1-of-2 charity throws for an 11-0 run grabbing a 31-22 lead with 7:05 to play.
The Tigers would cut the deficit to four a minute later getting five points from Mike'l Simms but a two-hand slam on Webster's drive through the paint halted the surge. Four straight by Rawley and a Keeshawn Palmer tough inside move extended the lead out to eleven with just under four to play. Two Barker dunks and three more points from Webster extended the lead to thirteen as the Cougars would trade buckets the rest of the half taking a 53-41 lead to intermission.
With the lead shrunk to four in the first six minutes of the second frame, Smith's potential three point play fell a free throw short but halted an 11-2 stretch by the Tigers to get back into the game. Barton would hold off the Tigers for the next seven minutes then took the lead to thirteen with a 5-0 run with 5:21 to play. A trey by Pierce cut the margin to ten but it was as close as the Tigers would come in the remaining five minutes with Barton's lead briefly topping out at twenty-one late in the contest.