Top ranked Cougars fend off Coffeyville's upset bid, advance to Friday's semifinals #GoBarton

A first half blowout turned into a second half deficit as the top ranked Barton Community College men's basketball team recovered to pull away late Tuesday evening at the Barton Gym in fending off Coffeyville Community College 83-72.

Victors of 21-straight, the now 30-1 Cougars will meet 24th ranked Butler Community College (23-8) in Friday's 3:00 p.m. semifinal at the Hutchinson Sports Arena with the winner advancing to Saturday's 5:00 p.m. Championship against the survivor of the 11th ranked Cowley College (27-4) and 16th ranked Hutchinson Community College (36-5) 7:30 p.m. contest wrapping up Friday's action.

Barton came out firing on all cylinders for the opening twelve minutes on 66.7% shooting with seven Cougars contributing to a twenty-point, 33-13 lead.

As the Cougars began to cool off making just four of their next fourteen shots, Coffeyville methodically worked its way back in the game to close the deficit to eight by the halftime horn.

The tide continued to side with the visiting Red Ravens coming out of the locker room scoring the first six points within an 11-3 stretch for the game's first tie at 45-all with 16:40 on the clock. Following a Lajae Jones three-pointer, Coffeyville would grab the next five for their first lead coming with 14:40 left as their largest lead of two coming ninety seconds later following a 1-of-2 free throw line trip.

The Red Ravens final lead was with 11:27 left at 55-54 as Myles Thompson's defensive stance resulted in a Coffeyville player control foul igniting a five point swing in favor of the Cougars.

Four straight by Coffeyville tied it for the final time as Barton kept the advantage the remaining nine minutes in part to timely plays throughout the lineup including a pair of clutch three-pointers from Ring Malith.

Malith buried 4-of-9 behind the arc to lead nine Cougars scoring on the night with 18 points with Brent Moss providing a 15 point spark off the bench.

Mozae Downing-Rivers provided timely dimes within his game high 11 assists, contributing 11 points for his 4th collegiate double-double and grabbed a team second best six rebounds.

Jones led the squad with 10 rebounds on an 8 point night with Thompson also adding 8 points. Cooper Jackson led with three steals and Jones rejected a trio of Coffeyville shots.

Four Red Ravens reached double figure scoring led by the 25 point and 15 rebound performance coming off the bench from Cris Carroll. Jahni Summers added 15 points with Brian Griffith and CJ Smith each contributing 12 points as the four players accounted for nine of the team's ten made three pointers.

After the hot start the Cougars settled in for a 46% shooting night, 10-of-33 from long distance and 15-of-21 from the charity stripe.

Coffeyville recovered from their 4-of-21 (19%) start to finish at 35.6%, 10-of-28 from three-point and 20-of-27 free throw shooting with a plus-five advantage on the boards.

SERIES NOTES
- Barton swept the season's meetings for the first time
- Barton has won the last four meetings
- Barton leads the series 11-5 at the Barton Gym
- Barton leads the overall series 24-19

Record Book Watch
Cooper Jackson
- 196 career steals *2nd most – 123 behind Eric Bush's 319 (1999-01)

Mozae Downing-Rivers
- 358 career assists *3rd most – passed Brandon Hughes' 349 (1994-96) – 95 behind Gene Butler's 453 (1990-92)