Going into the Jayhawk West battle Saturday night, it looked like an easy win for the Barton men’s basketball team.

The Cougars were riding a 4-game winning streak and moved into the rankings this week at No. 19. Dodge City had lost seven straight and were winless on the road this season at 0-8.

Earlier this season, the Cougars rolled to an 85-69 win at Dodge City.

But it was not smooth sailing from the opening tip by any means.

For most of the opening half, Dodge City led or was neck-and-neck with the Cougars. But Barton closed out the first half on a big run and rode that to a 89-68 win over the Conquistadors on Hall of Fame night at the Barton Gym.

The run was keyed by sophomore point guard Leondre Washington, who poured in 30 points.

Barton is now 12-4 in the West and 21-4 overall. The Cougars are one game back of Seward for the West lead. Dodge sits in last place in the West at 2-14 and 7-18 overall.

“We had a great atmosphere here on a very special night,” Coach Fletchall said. “We didn’t come out with great energy and it showed.

“We finally got things going, especially on the defensive end. We closed out the half well then really stepped it up in the second half.”

It wasn’t as easy as the final score indicates – at least for a chunk of the first half.

Barton fell behind early by as many as seven at 17-10. Barton cut that lead down to a pair on a nifty behind the back pass from Akeem White to Dallas Bryson for a bucket to cut the lead to 17-15.

The Cougars overtook the Conquistadors on an Elijah Ford jumper in the lane for a 25-24 lead with 6:21 to play before half.

The game was still tied at 29-all with four minutes left in the first half.

A hot-shooting Washington got the Cougars going in the final four minutes. Three treys in just over a minute – including one from beyond 25 feet, gave Barton a 39-33 lead with just more than two minutes left in the half.

Barton closed out those final four minutes on a 19-7 run as John Williams knocked down a pair of 3-pointers in the final two minutes to go to half up, 48-36.

The half ended on a driving fast break layup, foul and free throw by Washington to give him 19 points at half.

Barton made sure there would be no comeback by the Conquistadors in the second half. The Cougars came out and pushed the lead to 16 points on a dunk by White from Martin Vogts.

The lead grew to 20 a few minutes later on a 3-point play by Washington to give Barton a 69-49 lead with 11:08 to play.

From there, it was cruise control for the Cougars on the way to the easy win.

The Cougars hit 55 percent from the floor and made 12-of-26 3-pointers in the win.

Washington led Barton with those 30, just one shy of his career-high of 31. The sophomore from New Jersey hit 6-of-10 3’s.

Ford finished with 15 points and 11 rebounds and four steals. Vogts added 10 points and a game-high seven assists.

Jyrus Freels led four Conquistadors in double figures with 16 points and 11 rebounds.

Next is another Monday game as the Cougars head to the Community Building in Colby to take on the Trojans. Colby beat Barton in Great Bend, 75-70, back in January.

The Trojans were just one game back of Barton for second in the standings heading into Saturday’s late start in Goodland against Northwest Tech. Hutchinson was also just one game heading into Saturday, but a 93-58 drubbing at Garden City slipped the Blue Dragons into fourth place in the standings.

Barton 89, Dodge 68

Dodge  36  32 – 68

Barton  48  41 – 89

Dodge (7-18, 2-14) 89

Seniguar 4-9 1-1 11, Howard 1-9 4-4 6, Dixon 3-5 0-0 7, Petrakis 4-11 0-0 14, Freels 8-16 0-1 16, Edwards 0-0 0-0 0, Tinker 0-1 2-2 2, Mency 0-2 0-0 0, Hill 0-0 0-0 0, Bryant 1-2 0-0 2, Burns 3-5 2-2 10, McGary 0-0 0-0 0. Totals – 25-60 9-10 68.

Barton (21-4, 12-4) 68

Vogts 4-7 0-0 10, Washington 10-16 4-4 30, Ford 5-9 5-6 15, Caldwell 2-7 0-0 4, Enneking 1-2 0-0 2, Andrews 0-0 0-0 0, Johnson 0-0 0-0 0, Hunt 2-3 0-0 5, Bryson 4-7 0-0 9, Williams 2-4 1-2 8, White 3-5 1-2 7. Totals – 33-60 11-14 89.

3-pointers – Dodge 9-22 (Petrakis 4-7, Burns 2-3, Seniguar 2-4, Dixon 1-2, Freels 0-1, Mency 0-2, Howard 0-3), Barton 12-26 (Washington 6-10, Williams 2-4, Vogts 2-5, Hunt 1-1, Bryson 1-2, Ford 0-1, Caldwell 0-3).

Rebounds – Dodge 32 (Freels 11), Barton 29 (Ford 11). Assists – Dodge 12 (Dixon 6), Barton 18 (Vogts 7). Steals – Dodge 4 (Freels 2), Barton 12 (Ford 4). Blocks – Dodge 2 (2 with 1), Barton 5 (Enneking 2).

Turnovers – Dodge 16, Barton 10. Fouled Out – None. Technicals – None.