PARK CITY — When it counted, the Barton men’s basketball team made all the right plays.
Down the stretch, Barton did what it needed to against Cowley in the Region VI quarterfinals. The results was a 76-69 win and spot in the semifinals Tuesday at Hartman Arena in Park City.
Barton, the No. 2 seed, will take on Coffeyville Tuesday at 5 p.m. with a spot in Wednesday’s championship game on the line. Coffeyville, the sixth seed, rolled to an 85-60 win over the 14th seed Neosho.
“It’s good to be back in the semifinals,” Coach Craig Fletchall said. “We played pretty well. Especially in the second half. Down the stretch, we did the things we needed to do to advance.”
In the win over the 7th seed Cowley, Barton had troubles scoring at times. But with the game tied at 55-all and six minutes to play, Barton became very efficient. The Cougars got points in all but two possessions in those final six minutes – scoring 21 points.
It started with a Malik Toppin layup to give Barton the lead. When Malik Rhodes made a free throw the next trip down, Barton would not trail again.
Back-to-back Charles Norman basket made it 62-59 with 4:22. A bucket and free throw by Rhodes extended the lead to 65-61 with 3:55 left. Ezekiel Charles followed with two free throws as Barton scored on six straight possessions to lead 67-63.
That is when the lone bad stretch came for the Cougar offense. On the next four possessions, Barton could only muster a free throw by Jahlil Rawley and another by Anthony Smith. But Cowley only cut the Barton lead to 68-66 with less than one minute to play.
From there, it was a matter of hitting free throws for the Cougars. Barton did that, for the most part, but Cowley did have one shot a tying the game.
After Rhodes hit 1-of-2 from the strip with 26 seconds left, Barton led 72-69. But solid defense by the Cougars forced Cowley to run the game clock down to 10 seconds. That is pretty much where the game ended.
Mike’l Simms missed a shot in the lane, Smith pulled down, was fouled and Cowley’s Brett Wright was hit with a technical foul.
Barton made all four free throws and held an insurmountable lead at 76-69 with just nine seconds to play.
Smith had another big game for Barton. The 6-7 sophomore scored 20 points and grabbed 12 rebounds. This on the heels of a 15 and 10 effort in the first round of the post season.
Rhodes added 18, including 8-of-11 at the free throw line. Most of those came in the final minutes. Ezekiel Charles added 15, including some big buckets when the Cougars offense was struggling to score.
Simms continued his hot play of late for the Tigers, scoring 23 points to lead the way. It was his sixth time over 20 in his last eight games.
That sets up the Barton-Coffeyville semifinal Tuesday at 5 pm.
“It’s going to be a battle,” Coach Fletchall said of the semifinal match up. “Coffeyville has a great tradition and a great coach. We just lost to them a couple weeks ago, so we are going to have to play real well to get by them.”
Coffeyville had very little trouble with Neosho in quarterfinal play. The Red Ravens led by 11 at intermission and poured it on in the second half for an 85-60 drubbing of the Panthers. Tedrick Wolfe scored 23 to lead four Red Ravens in double figures.
In the top half of the bracket, top seeded Hutchinson rolled past Independence and Butler ended Pratt’s Cinderella run.
The Blue Dragons, the No. 2 team in the country and now 30-1 on the season, busted out to a 35-19 halftime lead and coasted to the easy win. Devonte Bandoo led five Blue Dragons in double figures with 18 points.
Butler scored 62 points in the second half to win a high-scoring affair with the tournament’s 13th seed in Pratt. Butler won the up-and-down contest, 115-102. Ketarrious Bouchum poured in 33 to lead 5th seed Grizzlies into the semifinals.
Hutch and Butler will play the late game Tuesday at 7 pm at Hartman Arena for a spot in Wednesday title game.

Barton 76, Cowley 69
Cowley 28 41 69
Barton 26 50 76
Cowley (17-15)
Rembert 5-14 909 12, Maccoy 0-1 0-0 0, Pierce 4-16 3-5 13, da Silva 0-4 2-2 2, Simms 10-20 1-3 23, Wright 4-7 5-5 13, A McGee 1-2 0-0 2, Mills 1-2 0-0 2, D McGee 1-1 0-0 2, Spence 0-0 0-0 0. Totals – 26-67 11-15 69.
Barton (20-5, 16-5)
Rhodes 4-12 8-11 18, Rawley 1-8 1-2 3, Toppin 3-4 2-2 8, Smith 6-8 8-13 20, Charles 5-10 2-2 15, Norman 4-8 0-0 8, Barbee 0-1 0-0 0, Palmer 2-4 0-0 4. Totals – 25-55 21-30 76.
3-pointers – Cowley 6-25 (Rembert 2-3, Simms 2-7, Pierce 2-11, Wright 0-2, Maccoy 0-1, da Silva 0-1); Barton 5-16 (Charles 3-6, Rhodes 2-7, Rawley 0-3).
Rebounds – Cowley 34 (Rembert 8), Barton 41 (Smith 12). Assists – Cowley 10 (Wright 4), Barton 10 (Rawley 6). Steals – Cowley 4 (Simms 2), Barton 4 (Rawley 3). Blocks – Cowley 3 (3 with 1), Barton 5 (Toppin 3, Smith 2)
Turnovers – Cowley 12, Barton 16. Fouled Out – da Silva, D McGee, Cowley. Technicals – Wright, Cowley.

Region VI Playoffs
First Round – Thursday at home sites
1 Hutchinson received a bye
9 Independence 82, 8 Garden City 69
5 Butler 90, 12 Allen County 71
13 Pratt 82, 4 Cloud County 76
14 Neosho County 79, 3 Dodge City 77
6 Coffeyville 77, 11 Colby 56
7 Cowley 92, 10 Northwest Tech 50
2 Barton 76, 15 Seward 62

Quarterfinals - Sunday
at Hartman Arena in Park City
1 Hutch 78, 9 Indy 54
5 Butler 115, 13 Pratt 102
6 Coffeyville 85, 14 Neosho 60
2 Barton 76, 7 Cowley 69

Semifinals – Tuesday at Hartman Arena
1 Hutch (30-1) v 5 Butler (19-12), 7 pm
2 Barton (25-7) v 6 Coffeyville (20-12), 5 pm

Finals – Wednesday at Hartman Arena
Championship game 7 pm