After sitting dead last in the Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference Western Division after the opening week, Barton’s men’s basketball team has won its last two to move into sole possession of third place in the West.
The Cougars, ranked No. 15 in the last NJCAA Division-I national poll, are 16-2 overall and 2-2 in the West. They host No. 12 Hutchinson (14-3, 1-2) tonight at 8 at Kirkman Activity Center, following the women’s game at 6.
“We were dead last with our backs against the wall,” Barton head coach Craig Fletchall said. “To move from dead last into third place is pretty impressive.
“But it can also go the other way in a hurry with a bad performance.”
Hutch, a conference powerhouse, always seems to be a formidable challenge.
“We seem to split with them about every year,” Fletchall said. “We beat them at their place last year and lost to them at our place in overtime.
“Our guys are pretty jacked up. I don’t know if Hutchinson has ever come in here with a losing record (at 1-2 in the West). They’ve had a week to prepare, and any time you give (Hutch coach Steve) Eck time to prepare, it’s going to be a definite advantage for them.”
While Hutchinson was idle last Saturday, Barton traveled to El Dorado and came away with a 71-62 win over Butler.
“The one thing that I’m really impressed with is that we’re really shooting the basketball well, playing unselfish and made the extra pass,” Fletchall said. “I think the last two games, we’ve really shared the ball and hit the open man and played a little more unselfish.”
The Cougars are seeking their third straight win and don’t want to enter an idle weekend coming off a loss.
“Absolutely,” Fletchall said. “You want to hit your break on an upswing. A three-game winning streak any time in this league is big and it doesn’t happen a lot because there’s a lot of parity.”
The Cougars are led by freshman guard Algie Key and sophomore swingman Carl Wallace.
The status of suspended sophomore forward Dwayne Brunson for tonight’s game was unknown at presstime.