The up and down the court affair Wednesday night in Arkansas City, Kansas, coupled with missed opportunities was a little too much for the Barton Community College men's basketball team as the Cougars dropped a 102-97 contest at Cowley College.
The loss snapped Barton's four game win streak on the orange and black painted court dating back to an overtime contest in March of 2011. The Cougars slide to 1-2 in conference play and 2-2 overall while Cowley's second straight win in the series improves the Tigers to 2-1 in league and 2-3 on the season. Barton will have the weekend off in preparation of hosting 6th ranked Coffeyville Community College on Wednesday, February 10, in a 7:30 p.m. tip at the Barton Gym.
Desean Munson led five Cougars in double-digit scoring on a career high night of 29 points on 12-of-15 shooting while securing 11 rebounds for his first double-double of the season and fourth of his career. Asanti Price and Jaheim Holden each added 17 points while Willie Lapoole just missed his third straight double-double in scoring 12 points and hauling down 9 rebounds. Saddled with foul trouble before becoming one of three Cougars to foul out, Justin Harmon added 10 points.
The Cougars had another good shooting night at 51% but connected on just 5-of-19 from beyond the arc while sinking just 20-of-36 from the charity stripe including missing four straight in a pivotal stretch late the contest. Turnovers were high for each team, Barton giving away 27 opportunities while Cowley committed 23. Cowley had a plus-7 rebound edge but 26 of those came on the offensive end resulting in numerous second chance opportunities including getting to the free throw line amongst the 59 total fouls called and making 32-of-46 from the stripe. Barton held the Tigers to only 39% from the field but Cowley drained 8 of their 28 shots from behind the arc for another nine-point advantage on the scoreboard.
Dalen Ridgnal provided a huge night for the Tigers with a 26-point 17-rebound double-double effort. Shemarri Allen added 17 points with Cevin Clark and Raishaun Brown contributing 13 and 12 points respectively.
Recap
Barton gave the high flying Tigers a dose of their own medicine in the first seven-plus minutes, stringing a pair of seven point spurts to lead by eleven twice, the last coming with 12:39 remaining at 23-12. From there the Tigers outscored Barton 10-2 in cutting the deficit to four at the 9:55 media timeout.
The Cougars were able to hold off the charge for the next few minutes until a 13-1 stretch put Cowley out in front by seven at 40-33 with 3:48 before half. Five straight from Price and seven total within a 10-3 Barton response tied it up at 43 but the Tigers owned the last two minutes on a 9-0 run including banging a three-pointer in the closing seconds to lead 52-43 at the halftime break.
Two minutes into the second half Barton drew it back to within one on an 8-0 run. Cowley held the Cougars off and led by four at the 9:57 second half media in what would be a wild final ten minutes.
A pair of Munson buckets on the way to his career night and a Price field goal cut the deficit to one in the ensuing minute off the clock. A combination of costly Barton turnovers, missed free throws, and Cowley putting twelve straight on the board had the Cougars looking up at a thirteen point deficit at 91-78 with 6:23 left.
Four straight by Munson and Price ringing the bell from deep cut the margin to seven. Following a Barton timeout and Cowley turnover, Munson again came up big on either side of a Cowley trip to the line to slice it to five. Forcing another turnover, Munson matched his then-career high with 3:36 remaining with a pair of free throws putting Barton just three points behind at 94-91.
Missed possessions by each team and following a pair of Tiger charity tosses, Holden's speed and slice to the cup cut it back to a one possession margin. The Tigers drained another pair of free throws but was the story the final three minutes, Barton couldn't capitalize on opportunities and despite holding Cowley to just four points in the final 2:55, the Cougars missed four free throws and had three other empty trips down the court spoiling the comeback.