After a big win over Hutchinson Wednesday night, the Barton men got back in the thick of the Jayhawk West race.
Saturday against Garden City, the Cougars had to make sure they didn’t let a game slip away.
Not too worry. Well, okay, there was a lot of worry about, but in the end, Barton left the floor with an 84-77 West win.
The win put Barton alone in second in the West at 9-4. Barton is 18-4 overall. Garden City fell to 4-10 and 9-14.
Seward still leads in the West after an 87-79 win at Hutchinson. The Saints are now 11-3 in the conference. Hutch slid into a tie for third with Colby at 9-5.
The Cougars exploded out of the gates to grab an early lead. When John Williams buried trey from deep in the corner and Diovante Caldwell followed by stealing the inbounds pass and hitting the layup, Barton led 13-6. The lead got to 16-6 after an 8-0 run.
Still down 10 at 21-11 a trio of 3-pointers ignited the Broncbusters on a 13-2 run and take a 24-23 lead on the Cougars with 8:29 left in the half. That seemed to get Garden going.
It started a back-and-forth battle between the two clubs. Garden briefly got the lead to four, but a 3-point play by Elijah Ford cut it to 32-31 with 3:52 left in the half.
At half, Garden led 41-38.
Much like the first half, Barton got out of the gates quickly in the second half. Five straight points by Akeem White gave Barton a 48-44 lead just 2 1/2 minutes into the half.
The Cougars scored 15 points in less then four minutes to start the second half but led just 53-51.
Both teams continue to score at a torrid pace in the opening stages of the second half.
But the Cougars hit a dry spell and Garden City went on a 10-0 run for a 61-58 lead.
At the media timeout in the half, Garden led 65-62 as the scoring slowed.
Jamir Thomas had a big night for the Broncbusters. The 6-8 sophomore hit his fourth trey to make it a 72-65 game with seven minutes left. He had made only 11 coming into the contest. That would be the biggest lead of the night for Garden.
Four Leondre Washington free throws crept Barton to within 72-69.
Anthony Enneking gave Barton a 76-75 lead when he followed an Elijah Ford miss with a dunk in transition with just less than four minutes left. The Clay Center sophomore made a huge play at the other end by drawing an offensive foul.
Ford then made it a 78-75 lead with a bucket with three minutes to play as the Cougars went on a 9-0 run.
A driving, hanging, off-balance layup from Washington kept the Broncbusters at bay, giving Barton an 80-77 lead with 2:33 left.
Garden burned nearly a minute off the clock on their end of the floor but came up empty. But the Cougars didn’t capitalize either.
Enneking extended the lead to 81-77 with a free throw with 52 seconds left after a miss 3-pointer by Garden.
Caldwell then put Garden in a deep hole with two more free throws for an 83-77 lead with just 30 seconds left to all but secure the win.
Washington scored 19 points added nine rebounds and handed out five assists for the Cougars. Ford finished with a double-double with 18 points and 10 rebounds. Caldwell added 13 and White 11.
Thomas led Garden with 24 points and nine rebounds.
Next will be a make-up game with Allen County Monday night. The Cougars will start the second trip through the West with a trip to Pratt Wednesday.
BARTON 84, GARDEN CITY 77
Garden 41 36 – 77
Barton 38 46 – 84
GARDEN (9-14, 4-10)–Thomas 10-17 0-1 24, Pearson 5-7 5-5 17, Cruickshank 1-7 0-0 3, Hopkins 2-7 0-0 4, Kebe 1-2 0-0 2, Simmons 3-5 2-3 8, Spencer 3-9 0-0 6, Pair 4-8 1-1 13, Woods 0-2 0-0 0. Totals – 29-64 8-10 77.
BARTON–(18-4, 9-4) Vogts 2-4 1-2 7, Washington 5-11 5-6 19, Ford 7-11 4-5 18, Enneking 3-4 1-2 7, White 5-10 1-1 11, Andrews 0-0 0-0 0, Hunt 0-1 4-6 4, Caldwell 5-8 2-2 13, Williams 1-3 0-0 3, Gildyard 0-2 0-0 0, Morris 1-4 0-0 2. Totals – 29-58 18-24 84.
3-pointers–GC 11-26 (Pair 4-7, Thomas 4-8, Pearson 2-2, Cruickshank 1-5, Kebe 0-1, Spencer 0-1), Barton 8-20 (Washington 4-9, Vogts 2-3, Caldwell 1-3, Williams 1-3, White 0-1, Hunt 0-1). Rebounds–GC 31 (Thomas 9), Barton 37 (Ford 10). Assists–GC 17 (Cruickshank 4), Barton 11 (Washington 5). Steals–GC 5 (Pair 2), Barton 4 (Ford 2). Blocks–GC 7 (Thomas 5), Barton 4 (Ford 3). Turnovers–GC 10, Barton 11.
JAYHAWK WEST MEN
Seward County 11-3 18-5
Barton 9-4 18-4
Hutchinson 9-5 18-5
Colby 9-5 14-9
NW Tech 4-10 12-11
Pratt 4-10 11-12
Garden City 4-10 9-14
Dodge City 2-12 7-16
JAYHAWK EAST MEN
Coffeyville 13-1 22-2
Cowley 8-6 16-8
Independence 8-6 13-10
Neosho County 7-7 14-10
Butler 6-8 13-10
Cloud County 6-8 12-11
Allen County 4-9 12-10
SATURDAY--Barton 84, Garden City 77; Coffeyville 72, Butler 63; Colby 67, Pratt 66; Cowley 72, Independence 58; Iowa Western 82, Cloud 72; Neosho 85, Allen 77; NW Tech 88, Dodge City 73; Seward 87, Hutchinson 79
MONDAY--Allen at Barton
WEDNESDAY--Barton at Pratt; Coffeyville at Cowley; Dodge City at Colby; NW Tech at Hutchinson; Neosho at Independence; Butler at Cloud; Garden City at Seward
