Five points in .5 seconds capped one of the wildest finishes in recent memory as the Barton Community College men's basketball team survived and advanced 81-80 over Garden City Community College Wednesday night at the Barton Gym.
The final four seconds produced seven points and two lead changes, including five of those points and two lead changes occurring in the final .5 seconds.
Following Justin Harmon's tough 8' shot over two Garden City defenders putting the Cougars up 79-77, the Broncbusters covered the floor in 2.6 seconds with Jaduhkiss Soto being fouled launching a decent look fade-away three-pointer. Stepping to the line with .5 on the clock, Soto calmly sank each three tosses to quiet the boisterous home crowd. Following a pair of Barton timeouts, Head Coach Craig Fletchall and Assistant Coach Brad Witherspoon dug deep into the playbook for an old trick providing the game winning opportunity.
With Garden City guarding the inbound pass, Harmon utilized and shuffled along the baseline, drawing the defender with him. Parked in the path was Jaheim Holden, absorbing the force of the defender in crashing to the floor. Drawing the foul, Holden gave the Cougars new life, racing down the court as the Barton faithful erupted to set up for the season-on-the-line pressure packed pair of free throws. Drilling the first, Holden swished the second putting Barton back out front. Following a Garden City timeout, Barton applied a loose pressure defense as the Broncbusters' final heave from 70' was well off the mark.
The victory sends the 3rd seeded Cougars and their 16-8 record into the Region VI Semifinals while the heartbreak loss ends the Broncbusters' season at 9-13.
Barton will next play 2nd seeded and 15th ranked Cowley College in the 8:00 p.m. Friday contest at Friends University in Wichita. The winner will then play the victor of top seeded Hutchinson versus 4th seeded and 5th ranked Coffeyville in the 8:00 p.m. Saturday championship game.
Ticket availability is limited, with fans available to purchase "Session 2" tickets online at www.kjccc.org/tickets beginning at 8:00 a.m. Thursday. Cougar fans unable to attend may catch the game locally on 104.3FM or online at www.GreatBendPost.com.
Holden led all scorers on the night with 25 points on 3-of-6 from beyond the arc and 8-of-10 from the charity stripe, none larger than the pair of game winners, while also dishing out a game high five assists.
Joining Holden in closing out their Barton Gym career in double figures, Harmon finished with 16 points and 4 rebounds while reigning conference player of the week Desean Munson posted 15 points and 5 rebounds in a foul limited 24 minutes. Asanti Price added 9 points including a pair of three-pointers while Evans Kipruto battled tough inside with three blocks to go along with 6 points and 6 rebounds.
Garden City's bench provided a 29 point advantage behind three Broncbuster double figure performances. Soto dropped 4-of-6 behind the arc on a 23 point 7 rebound night with Roney "June" Lewis and Jasman Sangha each contributing 11 points. The Broncbusters' season leader Denver Jones added 10 points before fouling out with 9:22 remaining. Mohamed Diarra led the 12 Garden City rebound advantage with 15 boards with 9 points.
RECAP
Each team had leads of nine points, Garden City grabbing theirs midway through the first half at 24-15 with the Cougars' coming at the 14:33 remaining mark at 57-48.
The Broncbusters erased the deficit in the next six minutes, outscoring Barton 14-4 to take a 62-61 lead with 8:10 left.
Barton later surged in front on an 8-0 run, getting a Willie LaPoole backdoor layup from Harmon's dish and the next six coming from Holden on a three-pointer and sinking three charity tosses after being fouled launching a second trey attempt on the next possession.
The contest featured 13 ties and 14 lead changes, the Broncbusters tying it up at 72-all with 3:15 left as the teams traded leads until the final buzzer.