Things haven’t come easy for the Barton men’s basketball team to start Jayhawk Conference play. But one thing stays the same – the Cougars leave the court with a win.
Barton did it once again Tuesday night against Seward County. The Cougars didn’t lead until the second half and still trailed with four minutes to play on the way to 75-70 win over the Saints.
The win over Seward came off the heels of a sluggish win over Butler at home Saturday and a thrilling come-from-behind win at Garden City last Wednesday. The conference season started with an overtime triumph over Colby at home. All that equals a 4-0 start to the conference season for Barton and an 8-0 overall mark. Seward is now 5-3 and 1-3.
Barton sits on top of the conference along with Cowley at 4-0. Coffeyville fell from the ranks of the unbeaten Tuesday night as Hutchinson rolled the Red Ravens, 99-62.
“It’s making me old,” Coach Craig Fletchall said. “We are fortunate to be 4-0 in the conference. It hasn’t been pretty for four games and they all could have gone either way but we have won all four.”
Barton struggled most of the night to find its offensive rhythm against the zone defense of the Saints.
The Cougars started the second half on fire to take their first lead. Barton opened on a 12-2 as Keshon Montague and Sam Lorenzen each made threes. Add a Marvin Cannon jumper, some free throws by Elijah Ford and a tip by Kawanise Wilkins and the Cougars had their first lead of the game.
That run turned a 38-35 Seward halftime lead into a 47-40 Cougar lead just four minutes into the half.
Seward would come back to take a 53-52 lead at the midway point of the half. Another three gave the Saints a 58-57 lead with just more than seven minutes left.
That lead grew to 64-60 with just 3:40 to play before Noah Webster came up with a big trey. Ford gave the Cougars a 65-64 lead with two free throws at the 2:56 mark.
After Seward tied it at 66-all, Roy Broomfield found Marvin Cannon running the baseline for a reverse layup and a 68-66 lead with 2:01 to play.
Broomfield came up big again the next trip down the floor. He stole the ball, drove the length of the floor, hit a layup and got fouled. He missed the free throw but Barton had a 70-66 lead with just 1:30 to play.
Montague put the game away with a steal, tough layup and foul. The free throw gave Barton a 73-66 lead with 42 seconds left in the game.
“They have confidence and keep fighting back,” Coach Fletchall said. “We find a way to get things done. Our bench was really good. That helped us a lot tonight.”
The Cougars trailed the entire first half. By as many as 11 on a couple of occasions midway through the half. A Sam Lorenzen trey tied it at 35-all with one minute left but the Saints answered and went to intermission up 38-35.
Wilkins had a big offensive night, making 8-of-9 field goals and 6-of-7 free throws for 23 points. He was joined in double figures by Montague with 15 and Cannon with 10.
Montague added five assists, Cannon eight rebounds and four blocks and Broomfield three steals in just nine minutes.
Seward was led by Isiah Small with 19 and Hegal Augustin with 13.
Barton will head to Arkansas City Saturday to take on Cowley College. Cowley is 4-0 in the Jayhawk and 7-1 overall after an 80-76 win at Butler. Tip is set for 7:30 p.m.

Barton 75, Seward 70
Seward 38 32 – 70
Barton 35 40 – 75
Seward (5-3, 1-3) 70
Horton 0-3 0-0 0, Augustin 4-6 1-2 13, Austin 0-0 0-0 0, Davis 4-8 0-1 9, Selmi 2-5 0-0 4, Bethely 2-6 1-1 5, Combs 0-0 0-0 0 Small 5-7 9-11 19, Thomas 2-6 0-0 6, Mitchell 5-10 0-2 11, Trunecek 0-0 0-0 0, Alfred 1-1 0-0 3. Totals – 25-52 11-17 70.
Barton (8-0, 4-0) 75
Wilkins 8-9 6-7 23, Lorenzen 3-9 0-0 9, Ford 1-2 6-8 8, Cannon 5-11 0-0 10, Montague 5-8 2-3 15, Andrews 0-0 0-0 0, White 0-2 0-0 0, Webster 2-10 1-2 7, Broomfield 1-2 1-3 3. Totals – 25-53 16-23 75.
3-pointers – Seward 9-18 (Augustin 4-5, Thomas 2-4, Alfred 1-1, Mitchell 1-2, Davis 1-3, Small 0-1, Bethely 0-2); Barton 9-23 (Montague 3-4, Lorenzen 3-9, Webster 2-6, Wilkins 1-2, Cannon 0-2).
Rebounds – Seward 33 (Small 9); Barton 30 (Cannon 8). Assists – Seward 14 (Horton 4); Barton 13 (Montague 5). Steals – Seward 2 (Bethely, Small); Barton 4 (Broomfield 3). Blocks – Seward 1 (Davis). Barton 7 (Cannon 4)
Turnovers – Seward 13, Barton 9. Fouled Out – Wilkins, Barton. Technicals – None.