On a night when Gene Butler, a member of the highest scoring team in school history, was inducted into the Barton Sports Hall of Fame, the current Cougars showed him they can score a few points as well. Barton hit triple digits for the third time in seven conference games in a 100-90 win over Pratt.
The win Saturday at the Barton Gym moved the Cougars to 6-1 in the Jayhawk West and 18-3 overall. The win kept Barton in a battle with unbeaten and fourth-ranked Butler (7-0, 21-0) for the top spot and two games clear of third place. Pratt fell to 3-4 in the West and 12-9 overall.
“It was almost anti-climactic after a full day of activities with the Hall of Fame and everything,” Coach Craig Fletchall said. “We shot the ball really well again. That is something you can’t expect to keep doing but, here we are almost halfway through the conference season and we are still shooting the ball really well.”
As Butler, a member of the 1990-91 team that finished third in the nation and averaged 104 points per game, looked on, this year’s edition of the Cougars offensive stayed high-octane. Barton is averaging 93.6 points a contest during its seven conference games and 94.4 for the season.
Saturday marked the return of three players from suspension including leading scorer Ahmad Walker and starting forward Eddie Hunt. Despite the return of the pair of starters it was no cakewalk for the Cougars Saturday as Barton went to half trailing.
The Cougars shot 53 percent in that opening half but 11 Barton turnovers allowed the Beavers to take a 48-45 lead to intermission. It was a half that saw 10 lead changes and four ties.
The second half Barton picked up the scoring even more with 55 points on 15-of-26 shooting. An aggressive Barton team made it to the free throw line for 31 attempts in the half, converting 21.
Barton initially took the lead in the second half when Tyrone Acuff knocked down a 3-pointer three minutes in for a 52-51 win. After another lead change and a pair of ties the Cougars took the lead for good on a Jalin Barnes free throw for a 57-56 lead at the 14:53 mark.
But the Cougars were far from in the clear at that point. Pratt kept the game within five points, cutting it to one on a pair of occasions for the next five minutes.
Barton finally started to pull away on a 7-0 run that gave the Cougars a 71-63 lead on the heels of three free throws from Walker to cap a 5-point possession. Walker scored a basket and was fouled by Pratt’s Khory Ross. Ross then received a technical giving Walker two more free throws. The lead reached double figures with 7:53 to play on a Barnes jumper to give Barton a 78-68 lead.
The Cougars continued to pour it on and when Kenny Enoch knocked down a trey at the 6:46 mark the Cougars had an 83-69 lead. Pratt did challenged a bit down the stretch but never put a real scare in the Cougars.
In his return, Walker put up 24 points – hitting 12-of-12 free throws – to pace the Cougars. The 6-4 sophomore guard added 13 rebounds as well for his third straight (over a 5-game span) double-double. It was the eighth time topping 20 points and he leads Barton at 19.5 points per game. His team-high rebound average is up to 7.2.
Enoch added 18 on 4-of-6 3-pointers and Barnes 17. Christian Smith and Khalil Gracey contributed 15 and 11 off the bench while Acuff also scored 11.
Pratt was led by Vladimir Brodziansky with 23 points and 13 rebounds.
Barton has three of its next four games on the road starting with contests this week at Cloud County and Seward County. The trips to Concordia and Seward are two of the longer trips in the conference for Barton and present a challenge for Coach Fletchall and his team.
“Now is the time we have to mature as a team,” Coach Fletchall said. “We are right in the mix for the conference race. We have nine games left and we need to have 11 players and us as coaches come together and focus the rest of the way.
“Are we going to keep it going over the next two road games or are we going to go lay an egg and drop right back into the middle of the pack. I don’t think it will be a problem for this team but we don’t know. We will find out.”
Cloud, ranked in the Top 25 as recent as the first week in January, has hit the skids in the West sitting in the cellar with a 1-6 West mark. The Thunderbirds are 14-7 overall.