The 6th ranked Barton Community College men's basketball team was knocked from the unbeaten Wednesday night as Cowley College departed the Barton Gym with an 80-70 victory.
A pair of 17-4 stretches doomed the Cougars, aided by a season worst shooting display and an opponent's best shooting night, as Cowley was up to the task of every Barton surge to win its second straight in Great Bend.
The second of the big stretches came after Barton closed the second half deficit to 47-45 with 12:43 remaining. The Tigers responded with five straight to start their thirteen point separation in a four minute span before two minutes later building its largest lead of sixteen with just under seven minutes remaining.
Barton fought back and gained momentum to close the gap to eight with under two minutes left but a costly turnover after securing a defensive rebound led to a pair of 1:42 free throws pushing the margin to ten in all but sealing the Cougars' fate.
The loss drops Barton to 3-1 in league play and 9-1 overall while Cowley, who is receiving votes in the latest national poll, rides to their seventh straight win improving to 9-1 on the year and 4-0 atop the conference standings.
The Cougars have little time to dwell on the loss in turning the page to its third straight tough test coming on Saturday with a 4:00 p.m. tip at 9th ranked Butler Community College.
Shooting its season low 33.3% on the night, the Cougars were also held to its second lowest output of the season while giving up the most points thus far on the season as Cowley shot an opponent high 50.8% shooting including a 10-0 edge on fast break points.
Nine Cougars contributed to the scoring column but just two reaching double-figures led by reigning KJCCC Player of the Week Lajae Jones' 18 points in part to 11-of-12 from the charity stripe.
Myles Thompson was the lone other player in double digits, working thirty-four minutes on the court for 11 points and 13 rebounds for the sophomore's 4th double-double performance of the season helping Barton to a plus-six edge on the glass.
Ring Malith and Amiri Ndayisaba each buried a pair of treys in adding eight points each while Cooper Jackson and Brent Moss contributed 7 points each.
Arzhonte Dallas' 24 points topped all players on the night in leading three Tigers in double figures. Leslie Owens came off the bench for 17 points with Damare Smith adding 12 points. Corey Thomas led in rebounds with 9, to go along with, 8 points.
SERIES NOTES:
- Cowley's second straight win and 4-of-last-5 at the Barton Gym
- Cowley's most points against Barton in last five meetings
- Barton leads the series 10-4 in Great Bend
- Barton leads the overall series 27-14