GARDEN CITY — It’s easier to look back on a season and find a key win that recognize it while the season is happening.
But the win the Barton men’s basketball recorded Wednesday night in Garden City has all the makings of one of those key wins.
For the first time this season, the Cougars took to the road. That trip was to an unbeaten Garden City in Jayhawk Conference action.
The Cougars rallied from a halftime deficit and scored a huge road win early in the season, 77-74, at the Perryman Center. Barton is now 6-0 overall and 2-0 in the Jayhawk. Garden is 5-1 and 1-1.
“This was a great win for our guys,” Coach Craig Fletchall said. “Anytime you can go on the road and win in this conference it is a good win. But to come from behind against a really good team in the first road game of the year is especially good.”
Barton trailed by five at intermission, 34-29. The Cougars struggled to make a shot in the opening 20 minutes, hitting just 39 percent from the floor and just 3-of-10 from 3-point land.
The Cougars hung within striking distance early in the second half. It was until the midway point of the half Barton finally took the lead. Sam Lorenzen gave Barton a 49-48 lead on a 3-pointer with 11:30 to play.
That started a 9-2 for Barton as Kawansie Wilkins hit a trey and Lorenzen added another to give Barton a 55-50 lead with 10:14 to play.
Garden City didn’t go away. The Cougars went nearly three minutes without a point as Garden took a 56-55 lead.
The teams traded the lead then a key 5-0 run late gave the Cougars a little cushion. Leading 60-58, Elijah Ford hit a layup and Wilkins followed with a trey to push the lead to 65-58 with 4:31 to play.
Barton still led by seven, 73-66, with less than one minute to play but had to hold off a furious Garden City rally. Garden never had the ball with a chance to tie until the very end after a pair of Barton free throws made it 77-74 with 0.8 seconds to play.
Lorenzen led the way for Barton with 15 points thanks to 5-of-7 shooting from 3-point range. Keshon Montague added 12, Wilkins and Ford each added 11 and Akeem White finished with 10.
Marvin Cannon grabbed seven rebounds while Montague dished out five assists to lead the Cougars.
Russhard Cruickshank led all scorers with 19 for the Broncbusters.
The Cougars are back home Saturday to take on Butler in a 7:30 pm tip at the Barton Gym. Butler is 1-1 in the Jayhawk and 4-1 overall.
Barton 77, Garden 74
Barton 29 48 -- 77
Garden 34 40 -- 74
Barton (6-0, 2-0) 77
Wilkins 4-9 1-3 11, Lorenzen 5-9 0-0 15, Ford 3-6 5-5 11, Cannon 2-7 2-3 6, Montague 4-11 4-5 12, Andrews 0-0 0-0 0, White 4-7 1-2 10, Webster 1-3 3-4 5, Dalyrimple 2-2 1-2 7, Broomfield 0-1 0-0 0. Totals – 25-55 17-24 77.
Garden (5-1, 1-1) 74
Thomas 2-7 0-2 4, Johnson 4-12 3-6 12, Holloway 4-10 1-2 9, Cruickshank 6-9 2-2 19, Harvey 3-6 0-0 6, Meadows 2-5 0-0 4, Middleton 0-1 0-0 0, Hampton 5-9 0-2 14, Miller 0-0 0-0 0, Otchere 2-3 2-4 6. Totals – 28-62 8-18 74.
3-pointers –Barton 10-21 (Lorenzen 5-7, Dalyrimple 2-2, Wilkins 2-4, White 1-3, Cannon 0-1, Webster 0-1, Broomfield 0-1, Montague 0-2), Garden 10-26 (Cruickshank 5-8, Hampton 4-7, Johnson 1-3, Harvey 0-2, Meadows 0-2).
Rebounds – Barton 24 (Cannon 7), Garden 35 (Johnson 8). Assists –Barton 13 (Montague 5), Garden 19 (Johnson 6). Steals – Barton 5 (Cannon 2), Garden 3 (3 with 1). Blocks – Barton 3 (Cannon 2), Garden 6 (Thomas 2).
Turnovers – Barton 8, Garden 14. Fouled out – Dalyrimple, Barton; Holloway, Garden. Technicals – Garden City Bench.