It wasn’t the gun-and-gun-type of basketball game the Barton Community College wanted, but it was a victory nonetheless for the 19th-ranked Cougars on Wednesday night at Kirkman Activity Center.
Powered by 26 points and 11 rebounds from 6-7 sophomore super-sub Dwayne Brunson, Barton was able to endure Butler’s half-court ways and persevered for a 74-67 victory.
“He comes off the bench and he’s at peace with himself,” Barton head coach Craig Fletchall said of Brunson, who made 12 of 17 shots from the floor. “He worked on sealing off the defender and we got him the ball. I’m glad that our guys are cognizant of where he is on the floor. If we don’t have him on the court tonight, we lose.
“Defensively, we tried to switch it up as much as possible, almost to a fault, and it was a tough game to win, no question about that.”
Coupled with Cloud County beating first-place and 13th-ranked Seward County 77-74 in Concordia on Wednesday night, the Cougars (22-4, 8-4) pulled within one game of Seward (9-3) in the Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference Western Division.
Butler’s 6-8 post player Andrew Victoria scored 12 of his team-high 22 points in the opening half for the Grizzlies (8-17, 2-9).
Exactly what the Cougars didn’t want, Butler controlled the game’s opening 10 minutes, turning it into a half-court game and working for the open perimeter shot against Barton’s zone.
But the Cougars parlayed 60-percent shooting in the first half (17 for 28) into a 40-33 halftime lead. It offset 48.3-percent accuracy by the tempo-minded Grizzlies (14 for 29).
The answer was  Brunson, who hit 7 of 11 shots for 15 first-half points. The Queens, N.Y., native seemed to be at the right place at the right time — be it trailing on the fast break or getting position in the lane when BCC was forced to run its half-court offense.
“I’m blessed to have an opportunity and to have the teammates I have and being in the situation I’m in,” Brunson said. “Coach tells me sometimes to relax and be patient and let the game come to you.
“We were really focused to play.”
Butler used a 9-2 run to break an early deadlock and give the Grizzlies an 18-11 lead with nearly 10 ½ minutes remaining before halftime.
The Cougars sped up the game at that point, getting a transition 3-pointer from Andell Cumberbatch and a fast-break mid-range jumper by Brunson to slash the gap to 18-15. It was the start of a15-4 run over the next 4:49 for a 26-22 lead at the 5:45 mark after Algie Key’s basket from the left baseline.
“After that first run, our guards — Kurt (Walker), Turon (Parker) and DaVonte (Grant) — did a good job finding the post and made a couple lob plays,” Fletchall said. “This is a tough team to put away. Props to Butler. They play everybody close, and they got shots when they wanted to.
“It was just that we had a lead and we played well enough to hold on down the stretch.”
Cumberbatch, the only other Barton player in double figures, finished with 12 points, including hitting two of the team’s trio of 3s.
A 9-4 run followed the Cougars’ surge, kick-started by Brunson tipping in a miss of the break. Grant knocked down a trey from the left wing to increase the margin to 33-24 with 2:40 to go in the half.
From there, the teams answered each other before Brunson converted a three-point play, coming off a fallaway jumper on a putback and then a free throw with three-tenths of a second left in the half for BCC’s seven-point advantage.
Barton kept a 10-point lead for a good portion of the second half before Butler trimmed its disadvantage to 70-65 with 40 seconds left in regulation.
But the Cougars made 4 of 6 foul shots, including 3 for 4 from Parker and 1 for 2 by Brunson, to seal the win.

JUNIOR COLLEGE BASKETBALL
Kansas Jayhawk Community
College Conference
Western Division

 At Great Bend
Kirkman Activity Center

MEN

Wednesday
Barton 74, Butler 67

BUTLER (8-17, 2-9)
     Ja’ln Williams 2-3 0-1 4 Justin Simmons 6-16 0-0 12, Sean Osler 4-9 6-6 17, Zac Bargen 0-5 0-0 0, Andrew Victoria 9-15 4-4 22, Jake Green 1-1 0-0 2, Cameron Cornelius 0-1 2-3 2, Lane Lindhorst 2-3 0-0 6, Eric Clark 1-1 0-0 2, Eric Watson 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 25-55 12-14 67.
BARTON (22-4, 8-4)
     Jonathan Pittman 1-2 0-0 2, Turon Parker 1-6 7-8 9, Algie Key 3-9 2-6 8, Carl Wallace 1-3 1-2 3, Darius Hill 4-6 1-2 9, Kurt Walker 0-0 0-0 , Andell Cumberbatch 4-6 2-4 12, Julian Rose 1-2 0-0 2, DaVonte Grant 1-2 0-0 3, Dwayne Brunson 12-17 2-3 26. Totals 28-53 15-25 74.
     Halftime — Barton 40, Butler 33. Three-point goals — Butler 5-16 (Osler 3-5, Lindhorst 2-2, Bargen 0-4, Simmons 0-2, Williams 0-1, Watson 0-1, Cornelius 0-1); Barton 3-8 (Cumberbatch 2-3, Grant 1-1, Parker 0-4). Rebounds — Barton 36 (Brunson11, Key 5, Wallace 5); Butler  23 (Victoria 6). Fouled out — None. Assists — Barton 16 (Walker 7, Parker 5); Butler 13 (Williams 6). Steals — Barton 9, Butler 7.  Turnovers — Barton 18, Butler 16.