CONCORDIA – After a disappointing outing last time out, the Barton men’s basketball team was needing to right the ship in Concordia Saturday night.
Not only did Barton need to bounce back from a loss, but that loss dropped Barton back into a 3-way tie for the Jayhawk Conference lead with just four games to play.
It took a while, but the Cougars were able to get that bounce-back win. Barton defeated Cloud County, 72-52, at Bryant Gym.
“It was a grind tonight,” Coach Craig Fletchall said. “We needed to get a win tonight and we did it. That is the great thing about basketball, you usually don’t have much time to think about your last game.”
An 18-0 run sandwiched around halftime was the difference for the Cougars.
The win kept Barton in a tie for the conference lead at 19-4 with just three games to play. Barton is now 10-1 on the road this season.
“We are 10-1 on the road,” Coach Fletchall said. “That’s pretty good.”
The Cougars are 23-4 overall. Barton is still tied for the Jayhawk lead with Coffeyville and Hutchinson. Coffeyville went to Garden City and won, 74-64, while Hutchinson used a big second half to knock off Cowley, 93-84.
Once again, it was not a good start for the Cougars. That has become a theme for Barton of late.
Cloud jumped to a 7-2 lead just 1:30 into the contest. Barton scored its first field goal with 17:20 left in the half on a Marvin Cannon baseline jumper. That started a drawn-out 6-1 run for the Cougars that tied the game at 8-all with 14 minutes to play in the half.
The Cougars took their first lead of the game after an Akeem White layup following a steal by Roy Broomfield.
Both teams continued to struggle scoring the basketball during the opening half. A Kannen Haist 15-footer for the Cougars evened the game at 15-all midway through the half.
Those would be Barton’s final points for nearly three minutes. But, fortunately for the Cougars, Cloud had trouble scoring as well. The Thunderbirds scored just three points in that span. So when Kawanise ‘Sqeauky’ Wilkins scored on a putback with 7:45 to play, Barton trailed just 18-17.
Barton finished the first half strong, scoring seven points in the final two minutes to finish on a 9-0 and take a 28-23 lead to halftime.
The second half was all Barton to start.
Elijah Ford scored on Barton’s first possession of the half and the Cougars were off and running. The Cougars scored six points in the opening minute to push the lead to 34-23 and the run 15-0.
Noah Webster hit a 3-pointer on the next trip down the floor and suddenly it was 37-23. That capped the 18-0 run.
Cloud County hung around and when Solomon Finley hit a trey, the Barton lead was down to 42-38 with 10 minutes to play.
Wilkins gave the Cougars come breathing room with a 3-pointer to push the lead back to 46-38 with nine minutes to go. Ford gave Barton a 10-point lead on a putback, 50-40, with 7:30 left.
Cloud had the lead down to 53-46 with 5:35 left when the Cougars delivered the knockout blow.
Barton went on a 6-0 run capped by a Cannon layup to give Barton a 59-46 lead with 3:49 to play.
“When we execute and run our stuff, we are pretty good,” Coach Fletchall said. “Sometimes our guys think they have to get theirs. But when we do what we should, we’re good.”
Cloud never got inside double digits the rest of the way. The game got a little chippy in the final minutes as Cloud was hit with a pair of technical fouls, allowing Barton to stretch its lead out.
The Cougars dominated the boards, outrebounding the T-Birds, 61-33. Barton had 23 offensive rebounds.
Webster led Barton with 15 points – all in the second half. Ford added 13 and White 10. Wilkins collected 13 rebounds. Barton had 10 of its 11 players score on the night.
Alvin Thompson led Cloud with 12.
Barton will remain on the road for its next contest with a trip to Pratt. The Cougars and Beavers will tip at 8 pm for the Lesh Sports Arena.

No. 10 Barton 72,
Cloud County 52
Barton 28 44 – 72
Cloud 23 29 – 52
Barton (19-4, 23-4) 72
Wilkins 3-9 2-6 9, Ford 5-10 3-5 13, Cannon 4-11 0-0 8, Montague 1-9 4-8 6, Webster 3-12 7-8 15, Andrews 1-2 0-0 2, Haist 1-2 1-2 3, Thomas 1-1 0-0 2, White 5-9 0-0 10, Dalyrimple 0-5 0-0 0, Broomfield 2-6 0-0 4. Totals – 26-76 17-29 72.
Cloud County (4-19, 6-20) 52
Burt 3-8 0-3 6, Christmas 2-6 3-5 8, Thompson 6-10 0-0 12, Finley 3-9 0-3 9, Day 2-5 0-0 4, Kidd 2-10 0-1 5, Patrick 0-2 2-2 2, Lee 1-3 0-0 2, Holden 0-2 0-0 0, Robinson 0-1 0-2 0, Ayliara 1-6 2-4 4. Totals –- 20-62 7-20 52.
3-pointers – Barton 3-16 (Webster 2-6, Wilkins 1-2, Cannon 0-1 Andrews 0-1, White 0-1, Broomfield 0-1, Montague 0-2, Dalyrimple 0-2); Cloud 5-20 (Finley 3-6, Christmas 1-4, Kidd 1-4, Thompson 0-1, Lee 0-1, Holden 0-1, Ayliara 0-3).
Rebounds – Barton 61 (Wilkins 13), Cloud 44 (Burt 9). Assists – Barton 15 (Montague 5), Cloud 15 (Finley 4). Steals – Barton 8 (Ford 2, Broomfield 2), Cloud 5 (5 with 1). Blocks – Barton 6 (Ford 2, Cannon 2), Cloud 8 (Ayilara 5).
Turnovers – Barton 9, Cloud 14. Fouled Out – Cannon, Barton; Burt, Cloud. Technicals – Patrick, Thompson, Cloud