The nation's 2nd ranked Barton Community College men's basketball team turned a one point deficit, into an 18-point advantage over a 4:28 span in the second half to pick up an 98-87 road win at Coffeyville Community College Saturday afternoon inside Gelmer K. Nellis Hall.
Going blow for blow through the opening 10-minutes, the Cougars pieced together a 13-0 run sparked in the midst of Fawaz Surakat's personal 6-0 stretch building up a nine-point lead that would eventually settle for a 49-39 halftime lead.
Stretching the lead to as many as 13 early in the second half, Barton would see the lead evaporate with the Red Ravens rattling off eight straight giving Coffeyville a one point, 58-57 lead with 13:50 remaining. Answering the call, the Cougars outscored the Red Ravens 21-2 over the next four minutes fueled behind four long distance splashes from Ring Malith building up a 78-60 lead for the final separation needed in winning the third straight in the series.
Securing the first regular season sweep over Coffeyville, Barton moves the winning streak to 16 straight while gaining a two game lead in the league standings at 19-1 and 24-1 overall following Hutchinson's 85-74 loss to Butler. The loss sends the Red Ravens to 6-13 in conference and 10-15 overall.
The Cougars will have a week off as the bye week in the schedule puts Barton back on the court next Saturday hosting Garden City Community College in a 4:00 p.m. tip.
Statistically, both teams shot well all the way around with Barton 48.1% from the field and the Red Ravens a slight better mark of 49.1%. Combining for 24 made three-pointers, the Red Ravens shot a sizzling 56% (14-of-25) while the Cougars rang in 41.7% (10-of-24).
Nine Cougars contributed to the scoring with four posting double figures led by Malith's game high 24 points on 5-of-8 made behind the arc.
Posting his 10th double-double in the first half, Lajae Jones added 23 points on 11-of-17 shooting while hauling in a game high 15 rebounds of which four coming on the offensive end.
Cooper Jackson contributed 15 points behind 5-of-8 shooting none bigger than a corner three-pointer pushing Barton's lead back to double-digits with 1:31 remaining.
Surakat added a new career high 10 points and six rebounds to lead Barton's 25-7 edge in bench production while Keandre Kindell added seven, Christian Bowen-Webb five and Brent Moss scoring three with five rebounds to conclude the bench scoring.
Moving into the top-5 career assists charts on Wednesday night, Mozae Downing-Rivers surpassed Algie Key's 4th most 315 assists, distributing a game high 12 with four rebounds and three points.
All five Red Raven starters reach double figure scoring led by Brian Griffith and Jahni Summers 18 points apiece. Cris Carroll posted the lone double-double for Coffeyville dropping 15 points and pulling down 13 rebounds with Jayven Cofer also adding 15 points.
CJ Smith concluded the double figure scoring for the Red Ravens with 14 points and game high three blocks.
SERIES NOTES
- Barton has won the last three meetings
- Barton's first time sweeping the regular season series
- Teams are 5-5 in the last 10 games in the series
- Coffeyville leads 8-5 in Coffeyville
- Barton leads the overall series 23-19
Record Book Watch
Cooper Jackson
- 179 career steals *2nd most – 140 behind Eric Bush's 319 (1999-01)
Mozae Downing-Rivers
- 320 career assists *4th most – Passed Algie Key's 315 (2011-13) - 29 behind Brandon Hughes 349 (1994-96)