GARDEN CITY – After a pair of heart-stopping buzzer-beaters, the Barton men’s basketball team was due to give their long-time coach a bit of a rest on his heart.
Mission accomplished.
The Cougars rolled to an easy win at Garden City Saturday afternoon, 129-101, on a night Barton made things look pretty darn easy.
“We needed a win like this,” Coach Craig Fletchall said. “After the last two games, this feels pretty nice.”
Barton kept pace with Colby at the top of the West standings with the win. Both teams are 11-3 in the West and 19-4 overall. Garden City is now 2-12 in the West and 8-5 overall.
Just how easy did Barton make it look?
The 129 points were the most scored by Barton all season, topping a couple 127-point efforts against a pair of junior varsity teams to start the season.
The Cougars hit a mind-boggling 77 percent from the field. The Cougars missed just 17 shots the entire game – field goals and free throws. Barton made 50-of-65 field goals and 19-of-21 free throws.
Oh, and Barton turned the ball over just five times and dished out 30 assists.
That is how easy the Cougars made it look.
Barton was in control nearly all the way. Barton trailed some very early but once Diovonte Caldwell hit a 3-pointer with 17:10 to play to put Barton up 9-7, the Cougars led the rest of the way.
A 7-0 run capped by a Desean Munson jumper made it 28-19 with 12:02 to play. The lead hit double figures on a Justin Harmon dunk at 33-22 with 10:44 in the half.
The lead got to 16, 48-32, on a Martin Vogts 3 with 6:15 to play then 17 with 3:32 left in the half on a Mavrick Gildyard layup.
Garden did cut into it a bit but a 30-foot runner by Keandre Bowles at the buzzer gave Barton a 64-50 halftime lead.
The Cougars have shown a propensity to build some big leads this year only to watch them evaporate in the second half.
Not this time.
The offensive onslaught continued into the second half of play.
The margin reached 20, 74-54, after a pair of Caldwell free throws with 17:19 left.
Barton reached its season average with 10:47 to play on a Munson bucket in the lane for a 94-71 lead.
The Cougars clipped the 100-point plateau for the seventh time this year on another 3-pointer from Vogts, his third, with 7:49 to play, for a 101-78 lead.
It became the highest scoring Jayhawk conference game of the year for Barton when Bowles made it a 113-90 game with 3:57 to play.
A new season-high scoring output was reached when Great Bend freshman Korbin Widiger hit a 3-pointer from the left corner with 20 seconds to play for a 129-99 lead.
The individual numbers were staggering as well.
Bowles continued his hot play with 27 points on 11-of-14 shooting. Gildyard topped the 20-point mark as well with 23 on 8-of-11 shooting from the floor and 7-of-7 at the free throw line.
Barton’s leading scorer, Jaheim Holden, scored just four points but handed out 12 assists from his point guard spot.
In all, six different Cougars his double figures.
Tahlik Chavez hit 9-of-12 3-pointers for Garden to lead all scorers with 31 ponits.
Barton gets the team right behind them in the West standings Wednesday when Pratt comes to the Barton Gym for a 7:30 pm tip. Earlier this season, Pratt handed Barton just its third loss of the year with a 91-80 at Lesh Sports Arena in Pratt.
The Beavers are 8-6 in the West, three back of co-leaders Barton and Colby, after an 85-75 to Colby Saturday afternoon in Pratt.
“Now is when things get tough,” Coach Fletchall said. “We are ready to start our second time through the West. February basketball is not easy. It can be grind.”

Barton 129, Garden City 101
Barton  64 65 – 129
Garden 50 51 – 101
Barton (11-3, 19-4) 129
Munson 9-11 0-0 18, Holden 0-2 4-4 4, Bowles 11-14 3-4 27, Caldwell 3-5 2-2 9, Gildyard 8-11 7-7 23, Harmon 6-7 2-2 16, Widiger 1-1 0-0 3, Vogts 5-7 1-2 14, Enneking 5-5 0-0 10, Koehler 0-0 0-0 0, Carr 2-2 0-0 5. Totals – 50-65 19-21 129.
Garden (2-12, 8-15) 101
Osborne 1-3 0-0 2, Spencer 7-17 11-12 26, Chavez 11-16 0-0 31, Woods 2-6 0-0 5, Favors 2-3 4-4 8, Bryant 3-4 0-1 7, Samuels 0-0 0-0 0, Emory 0-1 0-0 0, Lamb 0-1 0-0 0, Wllits 0-0 0-0 0, Frazier 10-15 1-1 22. Totals – 36-66 16-18 101.
3-pointers – Barton 10-16 (Vogts 3-4, Harmon 2-3, Bowles 2-4, Widiger 1-1, Carr 1-1, Caldwell 1-2, Holden 0-1), Garden 13-23 (Chavez 9-12, Spencer 1-1, Bryant 1-1, Woods 1-2, Frazier 1-4, Osborne 0-1, Emory 0-1, Lamb 0-1).
Rebounds – Barton 23 (Gildyard 6), Garden 19 (Spencer 7). Assists – Barton 30 (Holden 12), Garden 21 (Favors 8). Steals – Barton 6 (Holden 2), Garden 3 (Chavez 2). Blocks – Barton 1 (Enneking), Garden 0.
Turnovers – Barton 5, Garden 10. Fouled Out – None. Technicals – Munson, Barton; Frazier, Garden.