Coming down the stretch the Barton Community College men's basketball team picked up a big road win Saturday afternoon, escaping their first trip to the Colby Event Center with a 66-62 victory over Colby Community College.
Featuring thirteen lead changes, neither team could grab more than a seven point advantage all contest, Colby owning a five point edge five minutes into the game with the Cougars' seven point lead coming with 16:15 remaining. The Trojans erased a four point late deficit on a five point spurt, grabbing their last lead with 1:48 remaining but the Cougars outscored the home squad 8-2 the rest of the way getting an Evans Kipruto jumper with twenty seconds left for the go-ahead bucket with Trey Bates III pair of free throws to ice it with 1.9 ticks on the clock.
The second straight victory locks a first round home playoff for the Cougars, improving to 11-12 for a sixth place tie in the conference standings and 17-12 overall while Colby drops to 10-11 for eighth place in league and 15-12 on the season.
Barton concludes the regular season on Wednesday hosting 5th ranked Dodge City Community College in a 7:30 p.m. tip. The Cougars will then host a first round Region VI playoff game on Saturday at a time and opponent to be determined.
Trey Bates III led the team effort with 17 points behind 3-of-6 long distance shooting and 50% overall including a big fifteen foot jumper putting Barton up 62-60 with a minute remaining.
Cougar Downing finished with 10 points on a rare off-shooting night with Josh Jordan adding 8 points off the bench and Hannes Saar contributing 7 points including 3-of-4 free throw shooting in the game's critical last two minutes.
De'Antray Hughes led the rebounding effort with 12 points, also adding in 6 points, helping the Cougars outrebound its opponent for the 24th time of the year by controlling the glass 49-30 over the Trojans.
Barton's 47.8% second half shooting upped the Cougars' overall game to 39.1%, connecting on 6-of-17 from beyond the arc and 10-of-13 from the charity stripe. Colby shot consistent throughout the night at 40.7% but just 5-of-18 from deep and 9-of-16 from the line.
Tyrone Marshall, Jr. led the Trojans pouring in 21 points, grabbed 8 rebounds, and dished out five assists off the bench with Allen Mukeba contributing 17 points and JJ White adding 11 points.
RECAP
The first fifteen minutes featured mini spurts by both teams, the first coming on Colby's 7-0 run grabbing their largest lead of five coming at 12-7 5:55 into the game.
Downing and Bates three pointers sandwiched around a Modibo Sanogo inside shot led a Barton response in taking back the lead. Midway through the half, Colby's five point spurt put the Trojans out front before Jordan canned just his fourth trey of the year swapping the lead again.
Battling point for point for the next five minutes, Bates second triple of the half put Barton up four for most of the remaining half until a 9-2 Colby stretch flipped the advantage but Sanogo's jumper and a pair of late Trey Rolfs free throws gave the Cougars ahead 37-34 into halftime.
Following the Trojans second period opening bucket, Bates' jumper and Hughes' dunk pushed the gap out to five, later climbing to its largest of seven at 45-38 with 16:15 left getting consecutive Saar buckets.
Barton held the lead until 1:48 remaining as Colby's 7-1 stretch put the home team up 60-58. A pair of Saar free throws tied it up and after forcing a Trojan turnover, Bates drained a critical mid-range jumper putting Barton back out front. Colby managed to tie it again at 62 but Kipruto's big man inside hoop gave Barton the eventual game winner with twenty ticks left.
The Trojans went for the win on their last possession but Marshall's three-pointer clanked off the front of the rim with Bates being sent to the line for the icing on victory sinking the charity shots with 1.9 left.