For the second straight weekend, Kirkman Athletic Center will be the site of another two-day early-season basketball tournament.
Barton Community College is host to the Barton Booster Classic today and Saturday, with action tipping off at 1 p.m. both days, the first of four straight games — two men’s and two women’s games.
Barton’s men (5-0) will face Quakerdale Prep (Iowa) tonight at 7, the same prep school team the Cougars routed 86-54 last weekend during the Barton Classic.
“We’re going to try to keep our guys from being complacent from a week ago,” Barton head coach Craig Fletchall said.
The competition level goes up for the nightcap on Saturday night at 7, a matchup for the Cougars with Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference Eastern Division foe Independence.
“Independence, there’s no question they have a very good club,” Fletchall said. “They have size, are long and athletic. (Indy has) wins over Butler and Iowa Western. The level of competition, I think each game poses a little different scenario.
“Over the next five games, over the next seven to 10 days, I think we’re going to find out a lot about our team, just because of the competition we’re going to face.”
Barton is coming off a 91-64 home win over Brown Mackie on Tuesday, a game where the Cougars made all six of their 3-pointers in the first half.
They have had different players step up each game, and freshman guard Carl Wallace narrowly missed a triple-double, finishing with 19 points, 14 rebounds and nine assists during the win.
Sophomore Colin Beatty leads the Cougars with a 17.6 scoring average during their unbeaten start. Freshman Chris Cantino is averaging 15.6 points, and Wallace is averaging 12.6.
Barton’s women (1-2) are coming off a pair of losses to Jayhawk East teams Coffeyville (61-55) and Independence (73-61) last weekend during the Barton Classic. Indy is 7-0 on the season, and Coffeyville is 4-2.
Dionne Harris leads four BCC players that are averaging double figures, scoring at a 14.7 points-per-game clip. Raven Adams is averaging 13.5 points.
Barton’s women play Grayson, Texas, at 5 tonight, preceded by the Pratt-Labette women’s game in the classic lid-lifter at 1 p.m. and the Hutchinson-Independence men’s game at 3.
Saturday’s schedule includes Pratt’s women and Grayson at 1, Hutch’s men and Quakerdale at 3 and Bartion’s women playing Labette (3-6) at 5, followed by the BCC-Indy men’s tilt.