What a difference one year can make in the NJCAA.
Last season the Coffeyville men’s basketball team was cutting down nets, raising plaques and putting themselves in the books as the NJCAA National Champions.
This year, Coffeyville is currently riding a 3-game losing streak and sits under .500 both overall and in the Jayhawk Conference.
The latest of those was an absolute drubbing by Barton.
The Cougars made it two straight in the Jayhawk after three losses to start conference play by handing the Red Ravens their worst loss of the season, 74-48.
“We needed that,” Coach Jeremy Coombs said. “We got to see some shots go through the net. That was nice for us. We did a lot of little things right.”
Barton is 2-3 in the conference and 6-3 overall. Coffeyville is 2-3 and 5-6.
To be fair, the Red Ravens are short some key players with an injury, including their starting big man and point guard. But the beating Barton put on them was one Coffeyville hadn’t seen for quite some time.
The game was a contest for about five minutes. At that point 7-6.
When Evans Kipruto hit a layup with 15:18 left, the rout was on, although no one knew it at the time.
The bucket only made it a 9-6 game but it began a 10-0 stretch to make it 17-6. That was followed by a 13-1 run to make it 30-10 with 3:22 to play. Another 10-0 made it a 40-12 game as the Cougars went to halftime up 46-14.
It was a first half that had some crazy numbers. Barton hit 18-of-29 shots including 9-of-18 on 3-pointers. Cougar Downing had 14 at the intermission but missed four of those shots. The rest of the team hit 70 percent, 14-of-20.
Meanwhile Coffeyville struggled to 4-of-32 from the floor for 13 percent. Strangely, Barton had nine turnovers to just four for the Red Ravens.
To say the Red Ravens made things interesting in the second half would be a stretch, but Coffeyville did get it down to 22, 61-39, with 7:06 left.
Downing ended that run with his first basket of the second half, a trey in front of the Barton student section.
That would be as close as Coffeyville would get.
Downing finished with 19 points to lead the Cougars and was the only Barton player to score in double figures.
“When he makes shots it makes it easier for everyone else,” Coach Coombs said. “We like to play team basketball but he can make us go.”
All 11 Barton players scored and all 11 played in double figure minutes.
Barton will look to make it three straight and climb back to even in the Jayhawk Wednesday when Cloud County visits the Barton Gym.
Cloud is also 2-3 in the Jayhawk after a 73-71 win over Pratt Saturday.
The Cougars have just three games left before the Christmas break. After Cloud visits Wednesday for the 7:30 tip, Barton will travel to Pratt Saturday then host No. 15 Butler on Monday.
Barton 74, Coffeyville 48
Coffeyville 14 34 — 48
Barton 46 28 — 74
Coffeyville 5-6, 2-3 (48)
Wiley 1-10 2-3 4, Butler 1-5 6-6 9, Bettis 4-14 3-4 11, Johnson 1-3 0-0 2, Jackson 1-3 0-0 2, Fritz 0-3 0-0 0, Mayer 1-10 3-5 5, Bikoy 1-6 0-0 2, Williams 3-7 5-6 13, Choi 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 13-64 19-24 48.
Barton 8-3, 2-3 (74)
Downing 7-12 0-0 19, Rolfs 2-2 0-0 5, Saar 3-5 0-0 8, Hughes 2-4 0-1 4, Kipruto 3-4 3-4 9, Bates 1-5 0-0 3, Locandro 3-4 2-2 9, Thompson 1-2 0-3 2, Robinson 1-8 0-0 3, Jordan 2-3 0-0 6, Sanogo 3-4 2-2 8. Totals 28-55 7-12 74.
3-pointers -- Coffeyville 3-19 (Williams 2-5, Butler 1-1, Johnson 0-1, Mayer 0-1, Bettis 0-2, Fritz 0-2, Bikoy 0-3, Wiley 0-4). Barton 11-31 (Downing 5-11, Saar 2-5, Rolfs 1-1, Locandro 1-2, Bates 1-3, Jordan 0-1).
Rebounds - Coffeyville 35 (Jackson 10), Barton 50 (Kipruto 9); Assists - Coffeyville 2 (Bettis, Jackson), Barton 22 (Bates 6). Steals - Coffeyville 6 (Bikoy 2), Barton 9 (Hughes 2, Robinson 2). Blocks - Coffeyville 5 (5 with 1), Barton 6 (Hughes 2).
Turnovers - Coffeyville 11, Barton 19; Fouled out - Downing, Barton. Technicals - None.
