Saturday produced a very good win for the Barton Community College men’s basketball team – a win over a Top 20 team. Friday, though, kept the Cougars from a perfect weekend and a 4-0 start to the season.
The Cougars split their games at the Conquistador Classic in Dodge City over the weekend losing to Fort Scott Community College Friday then rebounding for a win over State Fair (Mo) Community College Saturday.
Barton lost to Fort Scott – a team the Cougars’ had beaten by 21 the previous week – at the buzzer, 74-73. Barton came back and beat No. 19 State Fair Saturday afternoon, 82-74. The split gives Barton a 3-1 record on the season.
“I told the players after the Friday loss that is was not too early for a season-changing win,” Coach Craig Fletchall said of the team’s bounce back win to end the weekend. “Hopefully we learned our lesson. We were not ready to play Friday.”
In the loss to Fort Scott, the Greyhounds led most of the opening half following a 13-2 run to give them a 23-16 lead at the midway point of the half. When intermission arrived Barton trailed 43-38. A big reason the Cougars were within five was the play of Khalil Gracey, who hit four 3-pointers and had nearly half the Cougars points with 18.
Barton put together an 18-3 run in the second half – including a 7-0 run that gave Barton a 62-56 lead with 9:28 to play in the contest. That lead was short-lived however as Fort Scott answered with an 11-1 run of its own to retake a 67-63 lead with five minutes to play.
The final minute provided some dramatic moments as Barton took a 72-70 lead on a Tyrone Acuff bucket with 41 seconds to play. A pair of Fort Scott free throws tied the game at 72 a few seconds later. Acuff then hit 1-of-2 free throws for a 73-72 lead with 13 seconds to play.
Defensive rebounding would prove to be the difference for the Cougars. A pair of Greyhound offensive rebounds allowed Dalton Rose to finally put the ball in the basket at the buzzer and give Fort Scott the 74-73 win.
“We have a lot of freshmen, go on the road for the first time against a team we just beat and play at three in the afternoon – we just had no energy,” Coach Fletchall said. “We tried to sub some kids and get some energy but it just wasn’t there.
“It is symbolic that we watched a smaller team get two offensive rebounds and eventually a stick-back to beat us.”
Gracey ended the night with 23 points off the Barton bench while Acuff added 15. A big thorn in the Cougars side was free throw shooting as Barton hit just 9-of-22 free throws compared to 14-of-17 for the Greyhounds. Barton was also out-rebounded 38-36.
Barton left Dodge City with a better taste in its mouth after a win Saturday against a quality State Fair team. The game was close throughout the first half and stayed that way for the opening stages of the second half. But the Cougars started to get things going in the middle stages of the second stanza pushing the lead to 62-53 and eventually up to 16 points at 78-62 with less than five minutes to play in the game.
While the score closed to eight before the final buzzer, Barton wasn’t threatened after taking that 16 point lead, coasting to the win. This time it was Acuff who led the way for the Cougars with 23 points and Gracey followed with 13. Barton had a much better showing at the free throw line as well, hitting 11-of-16.
The Roadrunners were led by sophomore point guard Dondre Alexander who scored 29 points in his first game back following a suspension.
“They just got their best player back for our game,” Coach Fletchall said. “We is as good as anyone we will see all season. But we led basically from start to finish. We stayed focus between the ears and played with energy.
“I was glad we turned around and got right back out there. It was a 180 degree difference for us from Friday to Saturday.”
The Cougars will be return to the court this weekend when they travel to Salina for the Brown Mackie Classic. Barton will take on Central Community College out of Nebraska Friday then battle Northwest Tech College JV Saturday.
“We have another long week before play again and we get back and correct our mistakes,” Coach Fletchall said. “Hopefully we handle that week better this time. We didn’t handle it well last week.”