PARK CITY — There would be no lethargic start. There would be no big first half deficit to overcome. There would be no blowout.
Not this time. No, this time the Barton men’s basketball would go toe-to-toe with the defending NJCAA National Champion Hutchinson.
The game went to the final seconds when a 3-pointer by Kawanise ‘Squeaky’ Wilkins to tie the game just missed.
With that, the Hutchinson Blue Dragons earned a trip to the Region VI Championship game, holding off the Cougars for a 74-69 win. It will be the sixth straight trip to the title game for the Hutch.
“We came to play tonight,” Coach Craig Fletchall said. “I thought we played well. We had our chances. You can look at this play or that play but when it comes down to it, Hutch just made a few more plays than us.”
For Barton, it may or may not have ended its season at 27-6. The Cougars will now have to wait and see if they are one of eight teams to receive an at-large bid to the NJCAA National Tournament. That word will come Monday just before noon.
“Now we just wait and see,” Coach Fletchall said. “There are eight at-large spots and we are just hoping for one of those. We are ranked 19th right now. We just kind of hope chalk prevails in the region tournaments. I think we are one of the best 24 teams but, hey, its out of our hands now.”
It didn’t look good for the Cougars late in the contest. Barton trailed by eight points with just two minutes to play. But the Cougars had no quit in them.
Marvin Cannon hit a layup to make it 68-62. Following a miss by Hutch, Noah Webster knocked down a 3-pointer to cut the margin to 68-65 with 1:19 to play.
A turnover by the Blue Dragons gave Barton a chance to get even closer. Webster faked a three on the left wing and drove to the hoop. Unfortunately for Barton, the sophomore lost his footing, slipped and missed the layup.
After two Hutch free throws by Devonte Bandoo, Webster hit 1-of-2 at the line, keeping Barton alive. The Hutch lead grew to 72-66 with two more free throws by Sal Nuhu with 29 seconds remaining.
Wilkins hit a trey from just left of the top of the key to trim the lead to 72-69 with 18 seconds left. The Blue Dragons left the door wide open after James Rojas missed two free throws 17 seconds to play.
Barton worked the ball to Wilkins from almost the exact same spot he made a trey 12 seconds earlier. The Chicago freshman had a good look but this time his 3-pointer hit the back iron.
The Blue Dragons added two more free throws for the final margin.
Most of the game was back-and-forth. There were 11 lead changes and 10 ties in the contest.
Barton led most of the first half. A driving layup by Webster gave Barton a 10-5 lead early. Barton would hold that lead until 7:30 remained in the half when Hutch went up 23-21.
Hutch led by as many as six after that before Barton came back to take a 37-35 halftime lead.
The start of the second half was a heavyweight fight. The teams traded the lead numerous times.
Bandoo would hit a 3-pointer for Hutch. Montague would answered with a jumper. JJ Rhymes would hit a layup and Cannon would knocked down a baseline shot.
Hutch would get a steal. Barton would block a shot. It was back-and-forth. Hutch coach Steve Eck would bark at an official. Barton coach Fletchall would plead his case and bury his head in hands.
No team had a lead of more than two points in the half until Rojas hit a layup and was fouled. His free throw made it 50-46 with 10:43 to play.
At that point, Hutch began to pull away. The Blue Dragons lead got as high as 10 after Hutch went on a 15-7 run over five minutes to take a 65-55 lead with 4:48 to play.
The Blue Dragons would hold a lead near 10 points until those final two minutes when the Cougars rallied only to come up just short.
Wilkins scored 16 points and snagged 12 rebounds to lead Barton. Cannon added 15 points , 10 rebounds, three steals and three blocks. Montague scored 14 and handed out five assists.
Rojas had a big game for the Blue Dragons with 24 points and nine rebounds. Rhymes added 19 and Bandoo 18.

No. 14 Hutchinson 74,
No. 19 Barton 69
Hutch 37 32 – 69
Barton 35 39 – 74
Barton (27-6) 69
Wilkins 4-14 6-6 16, Ford 1-6 2-5 4, Montague 6-15 0-1 14, White 4-5 2-4 11, Webster 2-10 1-2 6, Andrews 0-0 0-0 0, Cannon 5-13 4-6 15, Dalyrimple 1-5 1-2 3. Totals – 23-68 16-26 69.
Hutch (28-5) 74
Bandoo 7-13 2-3 18, Rhymes 6-12 6-8 19, Whitfield 1-5 0-0 2, Taylor 2-6 0-0 4, Mitchell 0-0 1-2 1, Cotton 0-0 0-0 0, Nuhu 2-3 4-4 8, Rojas 8-15 6-10 24. Totals – 26-54 19-27 74.
3-pointers – Barton 7-30 (Wilkins 2-6, Montague 2-8, White 1-1, Cannon 1-5, Webster 1-7, Dalyrimple 0-3); Hutch 3-9 (Bandoo 2-4, Rhymes 1-1, Rojas 0-1, Whitfield 0-3).
Rebounds – Barton 45 (Wilkins 12, Cannon 10); Hutch 39 (Rojas 9). Assists – Barton 8 (Montague 5); Hutch 7 (3 with 2). Steals – Barton 6 (Cannon 3); Hutch 3 (3 with 1). Blocks – Barton 8 (Cannon 3). Hutch 3 (3 with 1)
Turnovers – Barton 8, Hutch 14. Fouled Out – None. Technicals – None.

Region VI Men’s Basketball
First round – March 1
1 Coffeyville (26-4) received a bye
8 Seward 63, 9 Butler 61
4 Cowley 71, 13 Neosho 62
5 Garden City 91, 12 Allen 85
3 Barton 86, 14 Dodge City 72
6 Colby 103, 11 Pratt 82
2 Hutchinson 93, 15 Cloud County 83
7 Independence 89, 10 Northwest Tech 70

Quarterfinals
Sunday, March 4 at Hartman Arena
1 Coffeyville 66, 8 Seward 81
5 Garden 74, 4 Cowley 73 (OT)
3 Barton 79, 6 Colby 72 (OT)
2 Hutch 74, Indy 59

Semifinals
Tuesday, March 6 at Hartman Arena
2 Hutch 74, 3 Barton 69
1 Coffyeville 65, 5 Garden 57

Finals – Wednesday, March 7
at Hartman Arena
1 Coffeyville (28-4) v 2 Hutch (28-5), 7 p.m.

Region VI Women’s Basketball
First Round – Thursday, March 1
1 Seward received a bye
8 Coffeyville 73, 9 Barton 70 (OT)
4 Cowley 71, 13 Neosho 53
5 Butler 79, 12 Allen 38
3 Independence 94, 14 Colby 49
6 Cloud County 64, 11 Dodge City 49
2 Hutchinson 82, 15 Pratt 22
7 Garden City 63, 10 Northwest Tech 52

Quarterfinals – Monday
March 5 at Hartman Arena
1 Seward 103, 8 Coffeyville 64
4 Cowley 69, 5 Butler 67
3 Indy 52, 6 Cloud 44
2 Hutch 55, 7 Garden 36

Semifinals – Tuesday
March 6 at Hartman Arena
1 Seward 67, 4 Cowley 59
3 Indy 70, 2 Hutch 50

Finals – Wednesday, March 7 at Hartman Arena
1 Seward (29-3) v 3 Indy (26-6), 5 p.m.