Cougars begin national tournament with blow-out win over Brunswick, face Daytona State at high noon Tuesday #GoBarton
Cougars win 14th straight at Sports Arena, 5th straight double digit win at national tournament.
The 9th seeded Barton Community College men's basketball team trailed just once in Sunday's opening round of the 2025 NJCAA Division I National Tournament, erasing an early 2-0 deficit knocking down three straight from beyond the arc in rolling to a thirty point victory over 24th seeded Brunswick Community College 92-62.
Barton's fourteenth straight win on Sam Butterfield Court in the Sports Arena and fifth straight national tournament double digit victory improves the defending national champion Cougars to 26-8 on the year advancing to Tuesday's high noon tip-off against 8th seeded Daytona State College (27-5). Brunswick, the Atlantic District Champion, ends its season at 28-5.
A pair of three pointers from Sebastian Muchitsch sandwiched around Aris Rodriguez' deep triple got the Cougars off to a fast start, but the play of Keandre Kindell kept the Dolphins on their heels. Whether it was mid-range jumpers, slashes to the hole, or distributing the ball, Kindell was responsible for 10 of Barton's 18 first half field goals by scoring 13 points on 6-of-9 shooting while distributing 4 assists.
Six Cougars contributed to the opening half's scoring including Fontaine Williams' second triple of the frame pushing Barton's advantage to 18 points late in the half leading to a 44-29 intermission score.
Brunswick made a charge coming out the locker room scoring four straight within an 8-2 start, slicing the margin to nine twice.
Seven straight from Rodriguez beginning with a triple and capped by Kindell's lone trey of the game outscored the Dolphins 10-2 in a two minute span widening the margin with Brent Moss answering a Brunswick bucket to tack on another four points for a 62-43 lead with thirteen minutes left.
Eighty seconds later Barton strung another nine point unanswered spurt highlighted by three-pointers, Eltramon Smith, Jr.'s getting it started capped by Williams' third arc buster pushing the gap comfortably into the twenties.
The remaining nine minutes Barton began subbing in its bench with all but one of the twelve Cougars adding to the scoring column.
Lucas N'Gombo's move in the paint followed by Lyna Brooks, Jr.'s pair of corner pocket bingos, was joined by Maddox Spray's turnaround fade-away 10-foot jumper, Pavel Ivanov's steal and dunk, and Majok Chuol's perfect pair of charity tosses highlighted Barton's close out. James Parlow, Jr. returned to the court following a seven game absence due to injury, grabbing a rebound and providing a much needed defensive presence with a steal helping the Cougars force 17 Dolphin turnovers and just 36.1% shooting.
Six Cougars reached double figures led by the second collegiate double-double from Kindell, pouring in a game high 18 points and career high 12 assists, to go along with, hauling down 5 rebounds and 4 steals.
Brent Moss added 14 points and game high 10 rebounds for his 17th double-double of the year with Smith, Jr. contributing 13 points and 7 rebounds with a pair of blocks.
Williams' trio of triples led to an 11-point outing with 4 assists while a pair of treys each from Rodriguez and Muchitsch led to an 11-point and 10-point production respectively for the freshmen.
Just two of Brunswick's eight scorers reached double figures led by Alius Bowser's 13 points off the bench including 3-of-6 three-point shooting. Armani Henderson added 10 points as Derrick Green led the rebound effort with 9 boards and 6 points.
In the win or go home format, Tuesday's result with Daytona State sends the victor to Wednesday's noon quarterfinals against Monday's noon winner of top seeded Snow College and 17th seeded Connors State College.
Barton's Game Schedule (All games after Tuesday pending victory in previous game):
1st Round: Barton defeats Brunswick 92-62
Tuesday – 12:00 p.m. vs 8th seeded Daytona State (2nd Round) *As the lower seed, Barton will be on the west bench
Wednesday – 12:00 p.m. (Quarterfinals)
Friday – 5:30 p.m. (Semifinals)
Saturday – 12:00 p.m. (Championship)
All 2025 Tournament games are being streamed live via ESPN+, with the Championship game available on ESPNU. *Streaming service and/or subscription required.
TOURNAMENT INFORMATION:
Official NJCAA Championship website: https://www.njcaa.org/championships/sports/mbkb/div1/index
Tickets: https://www.njcaa.org/tickets
- $65 All-Session
- $14 Session
- Children age 3 and under are fee