BY MIKE MARZOLF
Special to the Tribune
Coming back from a three week break can be a challenge. A challenge just about every team in the Jayhawk Conference faces on a nearly annual basis.
For the No. 21 ranked Barton men’s basketball team, things were even more challenging with school not started back up yet and just a smattering of students in attendance.
It was indeed a sluggish return to the court for Barton. The normally high-scoring Cougars struggled to score at times but were able to grind out a victory.
In the end, Barton had tallied yet another win, getting past Cloud County in Jayhawk Conference play, 82-74.
“I never know what to expect the first game back,” Coach Craig Fletchall said. “Usually it is like this – a little sloppy. I’ll take a win, that’s for sure.”
It wasn’t 40 minutes of pretty basketball by any means, but it was a win to start the second semester.
The win improved Barton to 8-2 in the Jayhawk Conference and 12-2 overall.
That is now good for a 3-way tie for the Jayhawk lead after Cowley handed Hutchinson an 81-74 loss Wednesday night. Barton, Cowley and Hutch are all 8-2. Coffeyville is fourth a 7-3 after losing at home to Garden City, 78-69.
Cloud is now 2-9 and 4-10.
After a slow start, Barton took the lead for good on an Akeem White fast-break dunk at 13-11 with 12:14 to play. From there, the Cougars gradually built on that lead for the remainder of the opening half.
The lead reached double figures on a reverse layup by White to make it 27-17 with 4:30 left in the half.
At the intermission, Barton had a 32-24 lead. It was just the fourth time during conference play Barton had a halftime lead.
The second half started with a pair of technical free throws by Marvin Cannon after Cloud Coach Jordan Altman was hit with a technical going into the locker room at half.
Cloud quickly cut that lead to 38-32, forcing Coach Fletchall to use a timeout with 17:31 left in the game.
“We turned the ball over several times to start the second half and they came down and stuck it to us,” Coach Fletchall said.
Barton responded with a quick 4-0 run to push the lead back to double figures. But the Cougars were out of sync at times and could not shake the Thunderbirds.
In fact, Cloud County worked the lead down to 49-46 with a chance to tie on a trey, but a miss and a Noah Webster fast-break dunk started a Cougar run with 12 minutes left.
Keshon Montague followed the dunk with a long jumper. A minute later Elijah Ford added a putback and after White drilled a trey, Barton had a 58-46 lead with 9:45 to play – its biggest lead of the game.
Cloud had another run in them. The T-Birds got the lead down to 69-64 with just less than four minutes on the clock but Ford’s putback with 3:30 left ended the 7-0 Cloud run.
The final minute-plus was a matter of hitting free throws for the Cougars. Barton did that well enough – hitting 9-of-12 in the final 1:15.
Kawanise ‘Squeaky’ Wilkins led the Cougars with 24 points thanks to 11-of-14 free throw shooting. Montague added 18, Cannon 11 and Webster 10. Ford had 10 rebounds to go with seven points.
JaVary Christmas led Cloud with 15 points and Alvin Thompson added 13.
The Cougars played without the services of sophomore Sam Lorenzen. The 3-point specialist is done for the season after tearing his ACL before the semester break.
Now its on to Pratt and the highest scoring team in the Jayhawk. The Beavers are averaging nearly 100 points per game, but will bring a 3-7 Jayhawk record to the Barton Gym for the 7:30 pm tip. Pratt is 6-8 overall.
NO. 21 BARTON 82, CLOUD CO. 74
Cloud 24 50 – 74
Barton 32 50 – 82
CLOUD COUNTY (2-8, 4-9)—Christmas 6-11 2-2 15, Finley 5-8 0-0 14, Thompson 3-10 7-7 13, Patrick 4-6 2-2 11, Ayilara 3-9 1-1 7. Robinson 1-1 2-2 4, Day 0-5 2-3 2, Holden 1-2 0-0 2, Lee 1-2 0-0 2, Burt 1-2 0-0 2, Kidd 1-5 0-0 2, Soza 0-1 0-0 0, Totals 26-62 16-17 74.
BARTON (8-2, 12-2)—Wilkins 6-11 11-14 24, Montague 5-16 6-8 18, Cannon 3-8 5-7 11, Webster 4-12 2-3 10, White 4-8 0-0 8, Ford 3-6 1-2 7, Andrews 0-3 2-2 2, Broomfield 0-1 0-0 0, Dalyrimple 0-0 0-0 0, Totals 25-65 28-37 82.
3-pointers—CC 6-20 (Finley 4-6, Patrick 1-2, Christmas 1-3, Thompson 0-1, Kidd 0-1, Soza 0-1, Day 0-1, Ayilara 0-5); BC 4-20 (Montague 2-7, Wilkins 1-1, White 1-2, Cannon 0-1, Andrews 0-1, Ford 0-1, Broomfield 0-1, Webster 0-6). Rebounds—CC 35 (Burt 6); BC 43 (Ford 10). Assists—CC 14 (Christmas 4, Thompson 4); BC 8 (Montague 3). Steals—CC 6 (Thompson 2, Ayilara 2); BC 11 (Ford 3, Webster 3). Blocks—CC 6 (Finley 2). BC 5 (Wilkins 3).
Turnovers—CC 23, BC 15. Fouled Out—Lee, Cloud. Technical—Coach Altman, Cloud.
JAYHAWK CONFERENCE MEN
Barton 8-2 12-2
Hutchinson 8-2 12-2
Cowley 8-2 11-3
Coffeyville 7-3 11-3
Seward County 6-4 10-4
Garden City 6-4 10-4
Colby 6-4 10-4
Independence 4-6 7-6
Butler 3-7 6-7
Pratt 3-7 6-8
Neosho County 3-7 5-8
Allen County 3-7 5-9
Dodge City 3-7 5-9
Cloud County 2-8 4-9
WEDNESDAY’S GAMES
Allen 93, Dodge City 82
Barton County 82, Cloud 74
Butler 128, Pratt 107
Colby 63, Neosho 59
Cowley 81, Hutchinson 74
Garden City 78, Coffeyville 69
Seward 69, Independence 54
SATURDAY’S GAMES
Pratt at Barton County
Allen at Hutchinson
Coffeyville at Butler
Cowley at Cloud
Independence at Dodge City
Neosho at Garden City
Seward at Colby
