This one figures to be an all-out battle on Saturday night.
Barton Community College’s men’s basketball team — ranked 19th in the latest NJCAA poll and sitting alone in second place in the Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference Western Division — travels to Hutchinson for a huge game for both teams. The opening tip is set for around 7:40 at the Sports Arena, following the women’s game at 5:30.
The Cougars (22-4, 8-4), who beat Butler 74-67 at Kirkman Activity Center on Wednesday night, moved into sole possession of second place in the West after Cloud County, which pulled within a half-game of Barton, beat 13th-ranked and first-place Seward County 77-74 in Concordia.
In fact, Cloud (19-6, 7-4) pulled into a tie for third place with Hutchinson (20-5, 7-4) in the league race. Hutch, which started out the conference season at 1-4, takes a six-game winning streak into this Saturday night’s game with the Cougars. The Blue Dragons were idle on Wednesday night.
“Our players know what needs to be done,” Barton head coach Craig Fletchall said after the Cougars took care of business against Butler, a team that had the Steve Eck-coached Hutch team on the ropes in El Dorado last Saturday night before the Dragons rallied from 15 points down for a 66-64 victory.
Hutch is led by Anthony Thomas, a 6-foot-7 sophomore, out of Winston-Salem, N.C.
Besides leading the team in scoring average (14.9 points), Thomas also leads in rebounding (6.84 average).
Guard Mark Braden, a sophomore from Kansas City, Mo., is averaging 14.5 points for second on the team while also leading the Dragons in assists (61) and ranking third in rebounds (4.72 clip).
Balance has been a vital for Hutch, which has seven players averaging six points or better for the season.
The Cougars also have had good bench play this season, especially against Butler on Wednesday night. Barton’s bench outscored Butler’s 43-12, although over half of those came from one player.
Dwayne Brunson, a 6-7 power forward, came up big coming off the bench for the Cougars, like he has as of late. He hit 12 of 17 shots and finished with 26 points while also grabbing 11 rebounds for a double-double.
Slowed to a half-court game for much of the time, the Cougars received only eight points from 6-3 freshman guard Algie Key and only three points from 6-4 sophomore swingman Carl Wallace — two of their biggest producers on the season.
The Cougars would love to push the tempo and increase the flow, and that’s when Key and Wallace are at their best.
Key leads Barton in scoring (18.9 points) and assists (131) while shooting 50 percent from the floor on the season (164 for 328).
Brunson is averaging 16.6 points and 9.1 rebounds while shooting a team-best 50.7 percent on the season (154 for 304).
Wallace is the third Cougars player to average double digits in scoring with a 11.6 clip.