The 9th ranked Barton Community College men's basketball team turned defensive in second half action Wednesday evening on the road for an 86-78 comeback win at Garden City Community College.
Barton jumped out to a 14-0 lead at Conestoga Arena but eventually found itself trailing by as much as seven as Garden City knocked down eight three-pointers in the final sixteen minutes and added a seven point advantage at the free throw line for an eventual 45-41 halftime lead.
Cutting the deficit to one early in second half play, the Cougars held Garden City scoreless in a pivotal three minute stretch while tacking nine straight on the scoreboard to gain the edge.
Keeping the home Broncbusters from cutting the deficit inside four points the rest of the way, Barton's final spurt of five straight inside a 9-3 stretch grew the lead back to ten with under a minute to play in holding Garden City to twelve less points in second half action.
The fifth straight win improves Barton to 8-1 in KJCCC play and 14-1 overall while Garde City's four straight win streak ends dropping the Broncbusters to 6-4 in conference and 10-6 on the season.
Barton returns home for its next contest coming Saturday in a 4:00 p.m. tip hosting Dodge City Community College.
Celebrating his birthday in Garden City, Myles Thompson gave Barton needed plays throughout the evening in finishing with a career high 23 points while grabbing 8 rebounds and dishing out 3 assists.
Ring Malith had the best night of his sophomore season by draining 2-of-5 from deep towards a 20 point outing and swatting a pair of Broncbuster shots.
Helping Barton to a plus-16 point advantage off the bench, Keandre Kindell wrecked havoc with 4 steals leading to 15 points to round off the Cougars' double-digits scorers.
Mozae Downing-Rivers added 5 points and 3 steals but dished out a team high 7 assists, three coming in Barton's 9-0 run including an incredible play from the floor along the baseline in throwing a half-court pass leading to Malith's dunk within the stretch.
Also having a solid all-around floor game, Cooper Jackson scored six points and 4 assists while coming up with 4 steals to move into the program's 3rd all-time slot with 150.
Four Broncbusters put up double-digit performances led by Brody Robinson's 26 points and 11 assists, Braxton James adding 24 points, Thomas Tut contributed 14 points, and Elijah Roberts came off the bench for 11 points.
SERIES NOTES
- Barton has won the last two meetings and 4 of the last 5 trips to Garden City
- Barton leads 30-25 at Garden City
- Barton leads the overall series 75-38
Record Book Watch
Cooper Jackson
- 150 career steals *3rd most – surpassed Jason Carter's 147 (2000-02), one behind LaKeith Humphrey (1986-88), 169 behind Eric Bush's 319 (1999-01)