Down but not out, the Barton Community College men's basketball team found a way Wednesday night at the Sports Arena including drilling a regulation buzzer-beating three-pointer propelling the squad for an eventual 102-95 overtime victory at Hutchinson Community College.
The third straight victory for the nationally vote receiving Cougars keeps Barton tied atop the conference standings at 10-3 in the Jayhawk West improving to 18-4 overall. Hutchinson, who is also receiving votes in the latest NJCAA poll, drops its second straight contest in slipping into the fourth spot in the West at 7-6 and 16-6 on the year.
Victors for the first time at The Arena since 2015, Barton will look to carry the momentum into another road contest on Saturday as the Cougars travel to Garden City Community College for a 4:00 p.m. tip-off.
The top two shooting teams in Region VI didn't disappoint, each shooting over 50% for the game in an equally matched up contest. Barton did have a couple of glaring edge on the stat sheet, outscoring the Blue Dragons by ten in second chance points and by nine from behind the arc.
Dropping twelve from long range, the most for the Cougars since November 15, three of those came in the final minute of regulation leading to Barton's avengement of last year's seventeen point loss on the Blue Dragon's court.
Trailing by five in the final sixty seconds, Martin Vogts' trey drew the Cougars within two with forty-four seconds left. Winning the rebound battle by twelve, Barton couldn't secure two more on the night on the Blue Dragons' next possession as Hutchinson came away with two offensive boards leading to DJ Mitchell eventually sinking a pair of free throws doubling up the margin.
Vogts would strike again, burying a corner pocket triple in front of the Barton bench keeping hope alive down one. Sending Clarence King to the line, King sank both clutch shots from the stripe leaving the Cougars just 4.6 seconds from a loss trailing by three. Inbounding to Jaheim Holden, the freshman speedster made his way up the floor, reached a pair of Blue Dragons at the top of the arc, spun and leaned into the game tying trey as the buzzer sounded.
Answering Hutchinson's field goal to open the extra frame, the Cougars rolled in the final 2:37 of action outscoring the hosts 10-2 for the victory.
A number of plays and players throughout the Barton lineup contributed to the big win as all nine players hit the scoring column, including and not overlooking the career high performance from Keandre Bowles. Clutch in many moments of the contest, Bowles connected on 12-of-19 from the floor including three from beyond the arc to erase his previous best coming last Saturday by ten points in finishing up with thirty-one points.
In addition to the game winner, Holden drilled two additional three-pointers on the night in totaling nineteen points to go along with a team high six assists.
Vogts' triples came at big times for the Cougars, including the pair down the stretch, connecting on 4-of-8 beyond the arc for fourteen points off the bench.
Mavrick Gildyard contributed thirteen behind 60% shooting with Anthony Atkinson-Enneking finishing with ten points and a team high eight rebounds including a monstrous follow-up dunk helping ignite Barton with four minutes remaining.
Hutchinson also put five players in the double-digit scoring column, led by Mitchell's nineteen in part to 4-of-10 shooting from beyond the arc. Jaden Okon contributed sixteen off the bench with Saquan Singleton and Josh Baker adding twelve each while Tyler Brown's trio of triples led to a ten point night.