An alley-oop dunk off the Cougars first possession sparked an electric start Wednesday night at the Barton Gym as a second half defensive clampdown fueled the Barton Community College men's basketball team's season opening 108-39 victory over Sterling College junior varsity.
The Cougars join the women's team in making the short trip to Hutchinson for their next pair of games coming on Friday and Saturday participating in the Blue Dragon Classic. Barton will first meet NOC-Tonkawa in Friday's match-up before Saturday's same time tip against 12th ranked Odessa College. A 3:00 p.m. slated tip-off time for each contest with live stream coverage available on the Barton Sports Network found at www.BartonSports.com.
Three Cougars posted double-doubles as five landed in double figures as all 12 players contributed with eleven reaching the scoring column.
Modibo Sanogo came off the bench to lead all scorers behind a 20 point and 10 rebounds, seven coming of the offensive glass. Scoring twelve points in the first twelve minutes with six coming from dunks, Evans Kipruto added 18 points with five of his 11 rebounds on the offensive end and swatted away three Sterling shots. Keith Robinson dished out six dimes and knocked down three treys in scoring 17 points and led Barton's 30-rebound margin by collecting a team high 12 rebounds. Cougar Downing also drained three beyond the arc in scoring 15 points and dished out 5 assists. Slamming home the game's opening alley-oop from Trey Bates III, De'Antray Hughes rounded out the double digit scoring with 14 points.
The unselfish Cougars distributed 29 assists on their 48 made buckets, Hannes Saar dishing out a team high 9 assists and defensively grabbing 4 of the team's 14 steals.
Mike Jackson was the lone Warrior in double digits with 17 points and a team high 8 rebounds with Luke Beougher adding 9 points.
After shooting 40.4% in the opening half and coming up empty on 11 three-point attempts, Barton's percentage shot up to 55.8% in second half play as the defensive intensity led to transition buckets and renewed energy knocking down 7-of-18 from long distance. Sterling finished at 20% for the game, connecting on just 4-of-29 beyond the arc in being held to just 13 second half points.
RECAP
The opening dunk was the first of three consecutive to open the game as the Cougars first five made shots came via the rim shakers.
Leading by just a 20-11 score with 11:20 left in the first half, Barton settled in and put it in high gear going on a 12-0 run within an 18-4 stretch for a 36-15 lead.
The Warriors outplayed the Cougars for the final five minutes, closing the half scoring 11 of the final 15 points slicing the halftime deficit to 42-26.
The five minute stretch grabbed the attention of the Cougars coming out of the locker room as Barton forced three turnovers in setting the second half tone and put 11 unanswered on the board widening the gap to 53-26.
Sterling would score just 13 second half points while the Cougars lit it up with 66 points including the final eight points as Walker Moore's inside bucket capped the evening's scoring.