The Barton Community College men's basketball team knocked off its second consecutive opponent ahead of the Cougars in the standings by defeating Dodge City Community College on sophomore night at the Barton Gym 100-92.
Defeating conference leader Hutchinson on Monday, Barton's victory over Dodge City leapfrogs the Cougars to second place in the final Jayhawk West standings at 13-8 with the Conquistadors slipping to third at 12-8 and 13-8 on the season.
The win improves Barton to 14-8 on the year but more importantly ensures the Cougars a pair of home court contests for the Region VI Tournament. Should Barton win it's Monday 7:30 p.m. first round game versus Cloud County, the Cougars would earn the second opportunity to defend home court on Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. for the quarterfinal round.
Wednesday night's battle with Dodge City was a tale of two halves with each owning most of the twenty minutes of action. The Cougars connecting on 10 first half three-pointers in building out a 28 point advantage in an eventual 60-39 lead to the halftime locker room only to have Conquistadors come blazing back in the second half cutting the gap to just four with eighteen seconds left.
Desean Munson and Justin Harmon helped seal the victory and hold off the Conquistador charge as each sank a perfect two tosses from the stripe for the eight point victory.
Harmon led four Cougars in double-digits with 23 points including 9-of-10 shooting from the free line while adding five assists in a workman's 39 minutes of court time.
Point guard Jaheim Holded added 21 points, dishing out a game high eight assists while corralling six rebounds.
Munson posted his 6th double-double of the sophomore campaign behind an 18 point, 16 rebound effort with a team leading three steals.
Helping the Cougars knock down a season high 15 three-pointers, five coming from Holden and four coming from Asanti Price in scoring 12 points on the night.
Sophomore Jarin Koehler matched a career high 7 points while adding the Cougars' +10 rebound edge including grabbing three of Barton's 17 offensive boards.
Evans Kipruto swatted away three Conquistador shots, hauled down five of his nine rebounds on the offensive end in finishing with 7 points as did Shawn Warrior.
Barton got off to an 8-0 start to the contest in most part from the play of Joe Jones. Creating a steal with subsequent transition layup to get Barton on the board, Jones then followed Koehler's shot rejection on defensive end by winging a perfect behind the back to dish for Munson who competed the And-1. Following a Conquistador turnover, Jones canned his lone trey in front of the Dodge City bench for the early eight point lead.
A 19-5 six minute stretch expanded the lead to twenty-two with three minutes the later the gap going to its largest at 52-24 with 3:42 to play following Harmon's dunk and Price and Koehler's consecutive treys.
Getting 22 second half points from Walyn Napper and 15 points from Dhieu Deing, the Conquistadors steady climbed back in the ball game the final twenty minutes.
The Cougars, who shot 56.8% in first half action, cooled down to just 33.3% in the second half including making just 3-of-16 behind the arc while compounding the shooting woes with 13 second half turnovers.
Both teams were sensational on the night from the free throw line, attempting 34 second half tosses in making 30, as Dodge City would shoot 84.6% (22-26) in the game while Barton sank 85.2% (23-27)
Deing led all scorers with 32 points, draining five behind the arc and a perfect 11-of-11 from the line. Napper was the only other Conquistador in double-figures, finishing with 24 points and dishing out six assists. Marlow Gilmore, Jr., added eight points and nine rebounds, six of those coming off the offensive glass.