The Barton Community College men's basketball team couldn't protect a pair of big leads Saturday night in falling 75-72 at Pratt Community College.
Barton led by as many as thirteen in first half action for an eventual seven point halftime margin before stretching it back out to eleven points with nine minutes to play. The lead diminished to seven with six minutes left before Pratt's 9-0 run sparked a 15-3 five minute stretch to gain a 66-62 advantage with forty seconds to play. The Beavers then held off the Cougars by sinking 9-of-10 free throws in the final thirty seconds to stay unbeaten at home this season at 8-0.
The Cougars fall to 2-5 in conference play and 8-5 on the season while Pratt improves to 3-4 in league and 8-5 overall.
Barton concludes the fall portion of the schedule on Monday hosting No. 19 Butler Community College in a 7:30 p.m. tip-off.
RECAP
Following Pratt's three-pointer on the opening possession, Barton scored sixteen straight points over the next four minutes, bookended by Evans Kipruto baskets with Cougar Downing and Hannes Saar three-pointers within the stretch.
The margin shrunk to five following Pratt's 9-1 spurt but Joseph Locandro's three-pointer followed ninety seconds later by Trey Bates III conversion of an And-1 quickly pushed the lead back out. Barton's lead would again grow into double digits after Saar's pair of charity tosses for a 26-15 score with 6:35 left before the tide of first half action turned.
Pratt controlled the next three minutes outscoring Barton 13-2 to tie it at 28 before De'Antray Hughes' inside jumper and Downing's jumper gave Barton the lead back. After a Pratt bucket sliced the deficit in half, Saar's drive to the cup and Downing converting a four-point play getting fouled on a three-pointer pushed the gap to eight as Barton would eventually ride to the half leading 41-34.
Hughes' follow-up one-handed dunk and Downing's jumper expanded the lead to eleven coming out of the locker room. The Beavers cut it down to five until a 6-0 Barton spurt getting a pair of points from Downing and Hughes, along with a pair of Myles Thompson free throws, again gave Barton an eleven point margin at 55-44 with 9:01 left.
The Beavers chipped away at the gap for the next four minutes until stringing nine straight in taking their first lead since their opening bucket to be on top 60-59 with 2:43 on the clock. Barton would immediately tie it up on Saar's 1-of-2 trip to the line and again for the final time at 1:53 left after a Kipruto bucket. Pratt scored the next four, countered by Bates' jumper slicing the deficit in half, and with the Cougar defense apparently forcing a 5-second inbounds violation, a late Beaver timeout saved the possession. From there Pratt would sink 9-of-10 free throws in the final thirty seconds to preserve the victory.
STATS
Two big differences glared on the stat sheet beginning with the Cougars being outrebounded for the first time all season as Pratt controlled the boards 45-33, including a 15-6 edge on the offensive glass. Neither team shot well from the field, Barton at 38.6% FG (7-18 3pt) as Pratt was 33% FG (6-19 3pt), but the Beavers were plus-12 at the free throw line in sinking 23-of-29 while Barton was just 11-of-17.
Downing was one of just two Cougars to reach double-figures, canning a buzzer beating just inside half court three-pointer to finish with 18 points for the second straight contest while Saar added 14 points. Modibo Sanogo made his first collegiate start in leading the Cougars with 8 rebounds.
Nasan Ayala's 18 points led five Beavers reaching double figures followed by Tommy Thomas and Eric Rymes each scoring 13 points. Cam Morris led two Beavers with double-double performances, scoring 12 points and 12 rebounds with 4 assists and 3 blocks while Harrison Eghan added 10 points and 11 rebounds.