The first conference road test of the season went against the Cougars Tuesday night in Arkansas City as the 21st ranked Barton Community College men's basketball team lost a tough one 67-65 at defending regional champion Cowley College.
Following a big defensive stand giving the Cougars an opportunity for the tie or win, Barton had the night's last scoring opportunity but couldn't get a shot airborne in the final 17.8 seconds in suffering their second straight defeat.
Now 0-2 in conference and 6-2 overall, Barton will regroup through the brief Thanksgiving break before hosting 5th ranked Hutchinson Community College Saturday in a 7:30 p.m. tip-off. Cowley enters the break at 1-2 in league, snapping a three game slide improving to 5-4 on the season.
RECAP
A slow start for both teams as Barton would grab a 6-5 lead by the 15 minute mark with Cowley grabbing the lead with 11:24 left. Stretching the margin to 9-6 at the 11 minute mark, baskets by Joseph Locandro and Myles Thompson regained the Cougars' advantage. Cowley would grab another pair of three point leads within the next five minutes but Barton answered with four straight responding to the deficit before unleashing a 7-0 run in gaining a five point lead with under three minutes to play. Thompson added another two points in the stretch being joined by Keith Robinson's trey and Trey Bates III drive to the hole.
The teams traded three pointers with Robinson knocking down his second of the half pushing the margin back to five at 28-23 with 1:44 left. The Tigers answered with a trey to spur five straight then following Locandro's triple, swished another before forcing a late Barton turnover resulting into a transition layup for a 33-31 halftime lead.
Barton scored the first seven points out of the locker room for a five point lead in looking to take control. Cougar Downing, who did not score in the first twenty minutes, buried a top of the key triple on Barton's opening possession with Kipruto scoring the next four including a dunk finishing off De'Antray Hughes' feed through the lane.
Cowley hung around to eventually tie it at 39 with 16 minutes left with Hannes Saar's second triple of the game regaining the Barton edge. Following the Tigers' KJ Spiller splashing his lone three-pointer to tie it back up, Barton went back on top from Kipruto's pair of charity tosses then following the Tigers' taking the next three, Kipruto gave Barton their final lead of the night flushing Saar's dish with twelve minutes remaining.
The Tigers surged ahead with the next five points, holding the Cougars off despite three more ties in the next six minutes. Five straight broke the final tie and following Downing's long jumper, tacked on a three-point play pushing the margin to its largest of six with 4:30 remaining.
Lost opportunities would leave a bad taste for the three hour ride home as the Cougars' defense came up with big plays but the offense just couldn't produce the points needed.
Down to the final ninety seconds, Thompson missed the second of two free throws but Robinson rose high to kick the rebound out keeping Barton possession. Downing was eventually fouled with the Cougars trailing by two with 1:16 left but having made 36-of-37 from the free throw line coming into the night, uncharacteristically missed the pair of charity tosses. Cowley converted on their end from the line with 50 seconds remaining but Thompson's tough inside jumper brought Barton back to within two.
With a nine second differential between the game and shot clock, Barton needed one more defensive stand to have a chance. The blockade of Kipruto and Thompson did just that, snuffing out Cowley's drive to the hoop forcing a tie-up with Barton gaining the ball on the possession arrow.
Following a timeout, Barton had 17.8 seconds to go the length of the floor, making multiple passes but the Tiger defense prevailed in the end as the Cougars were never able to a good look and never got a shot airborne before the horn sounded.
STATS
Kipruto led the Cougars with 17 points while grabbing 8 rebounds and swatting four Tiger shots. Robinson canned a pair of triples within his 10 point and 3 assist night while Thompson also added 10 points off the bench with 8 rebounds helping Barton to a plus five rebound edge.
Clarence King was the big story for Cowley in putting up 22 points on 8-of-14 shooting and grabbing 7 rebounds. Xaiver Valley and Mekhi Cameron each contributed 10 points.
The Cougars reached double digits in offensive rebounds for the fifth time in eight games but converting just 61.9% in 21 tries from the free throw line left missed opportunities in the close game.