Still seething from taking its lone loss the last time on the court, the 6th ranked Barton Community College men's basketball team led throughout Saturday afternoon for a 65-61 victory at 9th ranked Butler Community College.
Barton scored the contest's first six points, stretching its lead to twelve three times before going to the halftime break with a six point 30-24 advantage.
A 10-2 spurt beginning around the eight minute mark pushed the margin to fourteen with five to play and again thirty seconds later with 4:20 left in the contest. From there things got interesting as Barton committed three straight turnovers while Butler canned three straight triples as a 15-2 spurt left the Cougars clinging to a one point lead with twenty-four seconds remaining.
Brent Moss provided Barton with clutch plays down the stretch, making 2-of-2 free throws before securing a big defensive rebound on a missed Butler free throw resulting in another trip to the line for 1-of-2 positive results. Amiri Ndayisaba put the final touches on the victory with a pair of charity tosses snapping Barton's three-game slide on the Grizzlies home court.
The victory improves Barton to 4-1 in league play and 10-1 overall while Butler's seven game win streak ends in dropping to 3-1 in league and 8-2 overall.
The Cougars have a pair of games left on the schedule before the holiday break beginning Wednesday hosting Northwest Kansas Technical College in a 7:30 p.m. tip before traveling to Liberal on Saturday for a 4:00 p.m. contest at Seward County Community College.
Getting timely contributions throughout the lineup, the Cougars were led by Lajae Jones' 14 points and 10 rebounds for his 3rd double-double of the year with Myles Thompson also adding 14 points and 7 rebounds as the lone players in double figures.
Combining for six steals, Ring Malith and Cooper Jackson also added 8 points each with Jackson leading the thefts with four.
Kalem Washington led Butler with 17 points, Anthony "AJ" Williams adding 14 points, and Jason "Deuce" Drake contributing 11 points and a game high 5 assists.
Both teams shot a similar 41% from the field, Barton going just 1-of-8 behind the arc with Butler having the plus-18 point advantage in knocking down 7-of-22.
Barton led the rebounding by seven including a plus-5 on the offensive glass as the Cougars were also better at the free throw line on 20-of-28 tosses while Butler was 16-of-28.
SERIES NOTES
- Barton snapped three game losing streak at the Power Plant
- Teams are 5-5 in last ten meetings
- Barton leads the series 27-25 in El Dorado
- Barton leads the overall series 60-47
Record Book Watch
Cooper Jackson
- 140 career steals *4th most – 7 behind Jason Carter (2000-02)