Barton drops long road trips to start week
The Barton Community College men’s basketball team finished up a long start the week with a pair of losses on the road. The Cougars lost in Concordia on Monday and Seward on Wednesday in back-to-back long road trips with a very short turn around. Barton lost at battle at Seward Wednesday night 89-82 in the Green House and fell in a big way at Cloud Monday, 92-68 in Bryant Gym. Barton is now 3-7 in the West and 13-11 overall on the season. The Cougars will be back on their home floor Saturday to wrap up the busy week with a home date against Dodge City.
Highlights
After a lackadaisical effort Monday night in the blowout loss to Cloud, Barton gave Seward all it could handle Wednesday night on the Saints home floor – where they are unbeaten this season. Barton trailed nearly the entire opening half, as by as many as 13, before going to halftime down 42-32.
The Cougars come out to start the 2nd half with some fire. Barton quickly cut the lead to 44-42 and eventually took a 51-49 lead as Colin Beatty capped a string of 5 straight 3-pointers by the Cougars. Beatty hit 2 in the stretch, Dennan Murrow a pair and Kevin Smith added one as the Cougars went on a 15-5 run starting a Morrow 3-pointer with Barton down 44-36.
Seward regained the lead and pushed it as high as 8 again before the Cougars came roaring back. Karon Burton capped a 9-0 with a streaking layup off a Samar Jassar block to cap the run and give Barton a 62-61 lead with 8:42 to play. Burton scored 5 and Smith 4 in the run. Seward would push it back to 6 and Barton would battle back to tie the game once again.
The biggest series of the night came with the score tied 72-all and just more than 3 minutes to play. Seward’s Marcus James missed and short jumper than didn’t draw iron, got his rebound and quickly put it up again. This time Jassar swatted the ball out past the top of the key where Seward’s Tony Smith grabbed the ball and fired a long-range 3-pointer. Smith drained the 3 to cap the sloppy possession. Barton went down missed a quick shot, fouled Seward and two free throws later the Saints suddenly had a 5 point lead. The Cougars would not recover and when Jon Tassin hit a 3-pointer with 1:41 to play, Seward completed a 10-0 run for an 82-72 lead.
Burton led five Cougars in double figures with 24 points followed by Beatty with 17. Morrow and Ron Baker each had 11 with Smith adding 10. Joe Reid grabbed 11 rebounds for Barton to match his career high. Another positive note for Barton was its 52 percent field goal shooting in the 2nd half. Smith led the Saints with 20 followed by James with 19.
Monday night in Cloud wasn’t as competitive as the trip to Seward. Cloud jumped to a 25-9 lead and Barton was never within single digits the rest of the way. Reid scored 17 and Morrow 16 in the loss. Beatty and Burton each added 10. Tywaune Modupe scored 20 points and grabbed 13 rebounds to pace Cloud.
Barton will return home Saturday to take on Dodge City in Jayhawk West action. Dodge will bring a 4-6 West record to the Barton Gym along with a 16-8 overall mark. A win would put the Cougars into a tie for 6th in the West.
Stats
Stats can be found at www.bartonccc.edu/sports
Next
Feb 6 – v Dodge 8 pm (Jayhawk West play at the Barton Gym in Great Bend)
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Check out Barton Basketball Online at www.bartonccc.edu/sports |
