CHANUTE – It was a game that wasn’t going to make a difference for the post-season.
Yeah, there was an outside of a getting a share of the Jayhawk Conference title, but it wasn’t a good one. So, win or lose, the Barton men’s basketball team was most likely going to be the third seed in the upcoming Region VI tournament starting Thursday.
The result was the norm on the road this year as Barton won 84-65. The Cougars are now 12-1 on the road this year.
The win closed out the regular season for the Cougars at 21-5 in the Jayhawk Conference and 25-4 overall. That is good for a tie for second in the conference with defending National Champion Hutchinson.
Coffeyville, winners of 14 straight after its win over Cowley Monday, wins the Jayhawk at 22-4.
Barton will get the third seed in the post-season thanks to its two losses against Hutchinson.
The means the Cougars will get Dodge City Thursday in a 7 pm tip at the Barton Gym. The Conquistadors were drilled by Hutchinson in their regular season finale, 76-58.
“Now we need to get ready for the playoffs,” Coach Craig Fletchall said. “It’s been a good season for us. It’s had its frustrating times, but overall, it’s been a good season. We tied for second in a tough conference.”
Monday was a game that saw Coach Fletchall use a lot of players, mixing up his starting lineup.
It didn’t change thing much as Barton got off to a slow start once again. Neosho jumped out to a 9-0 lead less than five minutes into the half, forcing Barton to use a time out.
The Cougars finally got on the scoreboard when Kawanise ‘Squeaky’ Wilkins hit a free throw with 14:55 to play in the half.
Barton got its first field goal at the 13:24 mark on a Marvin Cannon baseline jumper. By then it was 11-3.
The offense ground along for the Cougars in the opening half but when Wilkins hit a short jumper, Barton had trimmed the lead to 15-9 with 10 minutes to play.
The offense continued to struggle to score. With five minutes left in the half, Barton had just 13 points, trailing 22-13.
The Cougars, behind the play of Wilkins and Roy Broomfield, finally got the offense flowing in the last five minutes and when Elijah Ford knocked down a 3 in the final minute of the half, Barton had came all the way back to take a 30-28 lead into the half. The Cougars closed the half on a 9-0 run.
The Cougars wasted no time in scoring in the second half. Barton came out and scored six points in the opening minute as Barton pushed its lead to 36-28.
After that spurt, the offense went stale again as Neosho cut the lead to 41-37 with 15:20 to play. Broomfield, who scored a career-high on the night, stopped the run with a bucket to make it 43-37.
Four would be as close as the Panthers would get.
A big moment in the game came with 12:27 left. Marvin Cannon made a basket and got fouled. While waiting to shoot the free throw, Neosho’s Lual Dung got hit with technical foul. Cannon made 1-of-2 technical free throws then added the initial free throw and Barton had its biggest lead of the night, 49-39.
Neosho hung around and eventually got the lead down to 65-59 with 5:30 left. Keshon Montague ended a 4-0 Neosho run with a pair of free throws for his first points of the night. Another Montague long jumper extended the lead back to, 69-59 with 4:30 to play.
Barton kept scoring that final 4:30 for the 19-point win.
Cannon led Barton with 22 off the bench, hitting 8-of-13 from the field.
Broomfield, making his first start of the season, had career-highs in points and rebounds. He finished with 16 and 10 boards to lead the Cougars.
Those two were joined in double figures by Ford and Wilkins with 16 as well. Wilkins had 12 of his 16 in the first half as he kept Barton in the game.
Now focus turns to the post season and Dodge City for Barton. The Cougars swept the Conquistadors during the regular season, winning 97-74 in Great Bend and 97-92 in Dodge City.

No. 16 Barton 84, Neosho 65
Barton 30 54 – 84
Neosho 28 37 – 65
Barton (21-5, 25-5) 84
Ford 7-12 1-1 16, Wilkins 6-12 3-5 16, Montague 2-11 2-2 6, Dalyrimple 0-3 0-0 0, Broomfield 6-10 4-7 16, Cannon 8-13 5-7 22, White 0-2 1-4 1, Webster 1-5 4-4 7, Andrews 0-0 0-0 0, Haist 0-1 0-0 0, Thomas 0-3 0-0 0. Totals – 30-72 20-30 84.
Neosho (7-19, 9-21) 65
Dixson 4-8 2-2 12, Dung 3-11 3-6 9, T Downing 5-10 1-2 14, Larcom 4-10 0-0 12, A Downing 3-10 0-1 7, Kohman 0-4 0-0 0, Taylor 5-8 0-0 11, Gildo 0-0 0-0 0, Sardin 0-1 0-0 0, Fenner 0-2 0-0 0. Totals –- 24-64 6-11 65.
3-pointers – B 4-23 (Ford 1-2, Cannon 1-2, Wilkins 1-4, Webster 1-5, Dalyrimple 0-2, Montague 0-8); N 11-28 (Larcom 4-10, T Downing 3-3, Dixson 2-5, Taylor 1-2, A Downing 1-3, Sardin 0-1, Dung 0-2, Fenner 0-2). Rebounds – B 46 (Broomfield 10), N 37 (Dung 13). Assists – B 11 (Montague 6), N 14 (A Downing 8). Steals – B 7 (Cannon 3), N 4 (T Downing 2). Blocks – B 3 (3 with 1), N 7 (Dung 4). Turnovers – B 7, N 12. Technicals – Dung, Neosho.

JAYHAWK MEN’S PLAYOFFS

THURSDAY HOME SITES

Butler 14-15 at Seward 17-13

Allen 10-20 at Garden City 19-11

Neosho 9-21 at Cowley 19-11

Dodge City 8-22 at Barton 25-5

Pratt 12-18 at Colby 19-11

Northwest Tech at Independence 17-12

Cloud 6-23 at Hutchinson 25-5

SUNDAY QUARTERFINALS

HARTMAN ARENA, PARK CITY

Coffeyville 26-4 vs. Butler-Seward winner

JAYHAWK CONFERENCE MEN
Coffeyville 22-4 26-4
Barton 21-5 25-5
Hutchinson 21-5 25-5
Cowley 16-10 19-11
Garden City 15-11 19-11
Colby 15-11 19-11
Independence 14-12 17-12
Seward County 13-13 17-13
Butler 11-15 14-15
Pratt 9-17 12-18
Allen County 8-18 10-20
Neosho County 7-19 9-21
Dodge City 6-20 8-22
Cloud County 4-22 6-23
MONDAY
Allen 122, Pratt 104
Barton 84, Neosho 65
Coffeyville 76, Cowley 64
Colby 87, Butler 82
Garden City 75, Seward 72 (OT)
Hutchinson 76, Dodge City 58
Independence 79, Cloud 68