COFFEYVILLE — From the very beginning it was an uphill climb for the Barton men’s basketball Saturday night at Nellis West Gym.
It was a climb the Barton men’s basketball team could not complete as the Cougars lost a battle at Coffeyville, 61-60.
The loss didn’t affect the Cougars in the standings. Barton is still in second with an 18-7 Jayhawk record. Barton is 22-7 overall. Coffeyville is now 14-11 and 18-11.
Barton will close out the regular season at home Monday night when Neosho County visits the Barton Gym for a 7:30 pm tip.
A 10-0 run by the Red Ravens gave Coffeyville a 12-2 lead and Barton spent the rest of the night playing catch-up.
Barton got the lead to three in the opening half but by intermission trailed 32-25. A quick 6-0 run to start the second half made it a 32-31 game.
But Barton couldn’t overtake the Red Ravens. Coffeyville answered with its own 7-0 run to built the lead back up.
Barton battled back and following back-to-back Malik Toppin baskets, it was a 43-41 Coffeyville lead with still more than 13 minutes to play.
When John Barbee knocked down a pair of free throws, the Cougars had battled back to tie the game at 45-all with 12:30 play.
But the Cougars could not overtake the Red Ravens.
The game went into the final minutes with Barton still chasing Coffeyville.
Jahlil Rawley finally gave Barton its first lead of the game on a long distance 3-pointer on the right wing in front of the Barton bench for a 57-56 lead with 2:31 to play.
It didn’t last long. Jordan Taylor followed with a 3 of his own for Coffeyville on the next possession to make the Barton lead short-lived.
Ezekiel Charles gave Barton the lead back with 45 seconds on a trey from the deep right corner to give Barton a 60-59 lead.
The Red Ravens’ Travis Washington hit two free throws with 35 seconds left to give Coffeyville a 61-60 lead.
That gave the Cougars a shot to win. But Charles’ 3-pointer bounded long and Taylor grabbed the rebound and was fouled immediately.
Taylor missed both free throws and Barton got the rebound with 1.2 seconds to play giving them one final attempt after a quick timeout. But the Cougars didn’t get a shot off.
Charles led Barton with 15 points followed by Keeshawn Palmer with 13 and Toppin with 12.
Washington scored 15 to lead the Red Ravens.

Coffeyville 61, Barton 60
Barton 25 35 — 60
Coffeyville 32 29 — 61
Barton (22-7, 18-7)
Rhodes 2-5 1-1 5, Rawley 2-5 2-4 8, Toppin 6-10 0-1 12, Smith 0-3 1-2 1, Charles 6-14 1-4 15, Norman 1-5 0-0 2, Barbee 0-4 4-4 0, Palmer 6-8 1-2 13. Totals – 23-54 10-18 60.
Coffeyville (18-11, 14-11)
Cubbage 2-3 2-3 6, Washington 3-10 6-6 15, Poleon 6-15 0-0 12, Roland 3-8 2-2 8, Kalina 1-2 0-0 2, Keith 0-0 0-0 0, Wolfe 3-4 1-2 7, Taylor 4-7 0-3 11, Jarrow 0-0 0-0 0. Totals – 22-49 11-16 61.
3-pointers – Barton 4-17 (Rawley 2-3, Charles 2-8, Barbee 0-3, Rhodes 0-2, Norman 0-1); Coffeyville 6-12 (Taylor 3-5, Washington 3-7).
Rebounds – Barton 35 (Charles, Palmer 8), Coffeyville 27 (Poleon 7). Assists – Barton 15 (Rawley 7), Coffeyville 17 (Cubbage 6). Steals – Barton 4 (4 with 1), Coffeyville 6 (Poleon 2). Blocks – Barton 3 (Toppin 2), Coffeyville 2 (Poleon, Kalina).
Turnovers – Barton 13, Coffeyville 13. Fouled Out – None. Technicals – None.