PRATT – It’s been a whirlwind 11 days since the Barton men’s basketball team was run out of the gym at Seward County.

Since that time, the Cougars have reeled off four straight wins, move in to sole possession of second place in the Jayhawk West and re-enter the Top 25 for the first time in several weeks.

The latest of those four wins in a row came at the Lesh Sports Arena in Pratt Wednesday night. The Cougars led nearly wire-to-wire on the way to the 70-59 win.

Barton, ranked No. 19 in the NJCAA poll this week, is now 11-4 in the West and 20-4 overall. The Cougars are just one game back of Seward for the West lead. Their 4-game winning streak since that loss is the longest in the West.

Pratt falls to 4-11 and 11-13.

“Winning on the road is always good,” Coach Craig Fletchall said. “Really, we played pretty good. We had some stretches I felt like we kind of let them back in but we seemed to respond each time.

“Four games ago, you probably wouldn’t have been able to convince me we would be riding a 4-game winning streak right now.”

The first time the two teams played, it took a buzzer beater from the Cougars to get the win at the Barton Gym.

This time, Barton took the lead early and led most of the way.

A highlight early saw Elijah Ford get a big block at one end that led to Leondre Washington burying a 3-pointer at the other end and Barton led 7-5.

Akeem White closed out a 6-0 run with a basket in the lane and Barton had a 13-7 lead. The Cougars would not trail again.

The lead reached seven on a Ford bucket at 15-8. A White driving basket in the lane made it a 22-14 lead with 9:35 left in the opening half.

Washington hit a pair of the free throws and Ford followed with a tough shot in the lane as Barton was on its way to a 27-16 lead with just more than eight minutes to play in the half.

The Beavers made some noise – mostly notably a dunk by Demarcus Fisher that cut the lead to 28-22 with six minutes to play.

Martin Vogts ended the run with soft baseline jumper at the 4:48 mark. A John Williams trey from the near the spot on the floor the he hit the game-winner against Pratt in Great Bend pushed the lead back to 33-24.

Barton went to half up 35-31.

Pratt came out and scored the first four points of the half to even the game at 35-all. A Ford dunk ended that run.

That dunk started 5-0 run for Barton.

The Cougars kept a slim lead on the Beavers behind the play of Ford. Just before the midway point of the second half, Barton began to pull away.

The lead reached seven on a steal by Washington and a bucket from White. Another White bucket, this time on a pinpoint pass from Diovonte Caldwell, got the lead to 51-42 with 10:46 left in the game.

That 11-3 run would prove to be the decisive stretch.

When Caldwell hit a trey from the corner in front of the Barton bench, the Cougars had their biggest lead at 55-43 with 6:45 to play.

The final dagger came on a free throw line jumper from Vogts to beat the shot clock for a 61-47 lead with just 3:22 left.

White led Barton with 21 points and 10 rebounds for a double-double. Ford was right behind with 18 points and eight rebounds. Washington tossed in 13 points and three assists.

Next is Hall of Fame day at Barton Saturday. Dodge City comes to the Barton Gym for a 7:30 pm start.

19 BARTON 70, PRATT 59

Barton 35 35 – 70

Pratt    31 28 – 59

BARTON (11-4, 20-4)–Vogts 3-5 0-0 6, Washington 4-8 4-8 13, Ford 7-9 4-8 18, Caldwell 2-4 3-5 8, Enneking 0-0 0-0 0, Hunt 0-0 1-2 1, Williams 1-3 0-0 3, White 8-14 5-8 21, Gildyard 0-0 0-0 0, Morris 0-0 0-0 0. Totals – 25-43 17-31 70.

PRATT (4-11, 11-13)–Taylor 4-11 0-0 9, Lakovic 2-4 0-0 5, Fifer 6-15 2-4 16, Fisher 2-2 0-2 4, Honas 2-5 0-0 4, Furcon 3-5 2-4 8, Maschoff 1-4 2-2 5, Austell 0-1 0-0 0, Bivins 0-2 0-0 0, Brown 1-7 5-8 8. Totals – 21-66 11-20 59.

3-pointers – Barton 3-11 (Caldwell 1-2, Williams 1-2, Washington 1-4, Vogts 0-1, White 0-2), Pratt 6-26 (Fifer 2-8, Lakovic 1-1, Taylor 1-3, Maschoff 1-4, Brown 1-5, Furcon 0-1, Bivins 0-2, Honas 0-2). Rebounds–Barton 33 (White 10), Pratt 35 (Furcon 5). Assists–Barton 7 (Washington 3), Pratt 8 (Fifer 3). Steals–Barton 6 (Washington 3), Pratt 5. Blocks–Barton 2 (Ford, Williams), Pratt 3 (Fisher 2). Turnovers–Barton 13, Pratt 15. Fouled Out –Furcon, Pratt. 

JAYHAWK WEST MEN

Seward County 12-3 19-5 

Barton 11-4 20-4

Hutchinson 10-5 19-5

Colby 9-5 14-9

NW Tech 4-11 12-12

Pratt 4-11 11-13

Garden City 4-11 9-15

Dodge City 2-12 7-16

JAYHAWK EAST MEN

Coffeyville 14-1 23-2

Cowley 8-7 16-9

Neosho County 8-7 15-10

Independence 8-7 13-11

Butler 6-8 13-10

Cloud County 6-8 12-11

Allen County 4-10 12-11

MONDAY–Barton 98, Allen 78

WEDNESDAY–Barton 70, Pratt 59; Coffeyville 79, Cowley 62; Hutchinson 81, NW Tech 68; Neosho 72, Independence 69;  Seward 75, Garden City 74

THURSDAY–Dodge City at Colby; Butler at Cloud

SATURDAY–Dodge City at Barton; Allen at Butler; Hutchinson at Garden City; Cloud at Coffeyville; Colby at NW Tech; Pratt at Seward; Cowley at Neosho