Late surge keeps 19th ranked Cougars unbeaten in grind out win over NOC-Enid #GoBarton
Late surge keeps 19th ranked Cougars unbeaten in grind out win over NOC-Enid #GoBarton
The 19th ranked Barton Community College men's basketball team owned the final seven minutes of Saturday's concluding contest of the Best Western Angus Inn/Cougar Booster Club Classic to run away with a 74-55 victory over Northern Oklahoma College-Enid.
Leading by just six, Barton closed out the final 7:30 with an 18-5 stretch to cap an otherwise sluggish evening of basketball as both teams struggled from the field throughout the night.
Improving to 5-0, Barton will next head to North Platte Community College on Tuesday for a 7:00 p.m. tip before opening conference play on Saturday in a 4:00 p.m. hosting of Independence Community College. The Jets, who also lost on Friday against Hutchinson, leave Great Bend with a 1-4 record to begin the season.
Among the squad's 36.3% shooting from the field, Barton managed to have two in double-figures. Lajae Jones put together a 17 point, 14 rebound and 3 assist night while Myles Thompson also poured in 17 points while grabbing five of his 13 rebounds on the offensive glass.
Ring Malith, who came alive in Barton's close-out stretch, finished with 13 points and 8 rebounds helping the Cougars to a plus-16 rebound edge.
Keandre Kindell added 9 points off the bench with Cooper Jackson also adding 9 points and season high 5 steals.
NOC-Enid finished at just 32.3% from the field but outscored Barton by fifteen behind the arc in draining 8-of-32 from long distance.
Marcell Perry's 16 points was the lone Jet in double figures and also led the team in rebounds with nine.
In the earlier contest, Hutchinson fell from the unbeaten despite a huge second half comeback, falling to 4-1 on the year being dealt an 89-86 loss to NOC-Tonkawa as the Mavericks split the weekend games improving to 5-2 on the year.