Faced with a nine point second half deficit, the No. 21 ranked Barton Community College men's basketball team turned it up Saturday night at the Barton Gym to pull away with a 97-83 win over Neosho County Community College. Limiting the Panthers to just 35.5% second half shooting, the Cougars were red hot from beyond the arc knocking down 10-of-15 while owning a fourteen minute stretch to outscore the Panthers by twenty-two during that span. The victory, along with Hutchinson's loss, moves the Cougars into sole possession of first place at 11-2 to wrap up the first half of conference play at 15-2 on the season while dropping Neosho County to 3-10 and 5-11 overall. Barton will next make the trek to northwest Kansas on Wednesday for an 8:00 p.m. versus Colby Community College (8-5, 12-5) at the Community Building.
Marvin Cannon had a stat stuffing performance to lead all scorers, dropping career highs with thirty points and eleven rebounds for the Virginia freshman's first collegiate double-double, in addition to dishing out three assists, while defensively coming up with three steals and rejecting two shots. Noah Webster and Kian Dalyrimple combined for 8-of-17 from beyond the arc, with each scoring sixteen as Dalyrimple's was a new career high in addition to his four rejections of Panther shots. Kawanise Wilkins also put together a solid all-around game in posting his sixth double-double with fourteen points and ten rebounds to go along with three assists, two steals, and one blocked shot. Conference leading assist man Keshon Montague increased his per game average to six per game dishing out ten.
Austin Downing led three Panthers in double-digits scoring twenty seven points while Lual Dung took home game high numbers in rebounds with sixteen, posting a double-double by scoring twenty-two points and dishing out a team high three assists. Branden Fenner rounded out the two column scoring with fourteen.
Other Game Notes:
- Barton now leads the overall series 14-5 including 8-2 at the Barton Gym
- Barton tied a season best free throw percentage (85% 17-of-20), moving them atop the region standings at 74.2% and 8th best in the nation
- Season second best numbers: three pointers made (12), assists (24), blocked shots (7), and turnovers (9)
- Neosho County's 83 points were the second most against the Cougars this season, as was their 19 made free throws
- Defensively, Barton held Neosho County to just six three pointers made and seven assists, each a season second low for an opponent
- After being held scoreless in Barton's loss to Allen County, Noah Webster has scored in double-figures seven straight games