BY MIKE MARZOLF
Special to the Tribune

HUTCHINSON – The joyride goes on.
The joyride the Barton men’s basketball team began last Monday when it was the next-to-last at-large team selected to the NJCAA National Tournament will last at least one more game.
That was assured when Barton pulled off the biggest upset of the tournament Tuesday afternoon at the Sports Arena, knocking of the top seed and No. 1 ranked Indian Hills in overtime, 85-83, in the second round.
“We’re blessed to play another day,” Coach Craig Fletchall said.
Barton, 29-6, will take on Eastern Florida State, the No. 8 seed, Thursday at Noon. Eastern Florida beat No. 9 Trinity Valley, 85-80.
The game wasn’t decided until Kawanise ‘Squeaky’ Wilkins made a finger roll in the lane with 19 seconds left. Then Barton had to survive a last-season 3-pointer by the Warriors, which missed and sent the Cougars and several of its fans rushing onto the court in celebration.
“When we played Hutch in the regional semifinals I missed that three to tie the game,” Wilkins said. “It has been lingering over my head so I knew at the end of the game I wanted the ball to be in my hands. I wanted to take the shot.”
Fletchall said the shot was just a matter of a player making a play.
“We really were out of sync,” Coach Fletchall said. “I didn’t do a good job saving time outs. We kind of just let them play there. I know we looked calm, but he barely got that off before the shot clock.
“I would like to say we ran some great play, but it was just two guys making a lot of great plays tonight and that’s what that was there.”
While Barton’s opening round 23-point win over Tyler was more of a boat cruise through a fun house, the win over Indian Hills was definitely a roller-coaster ride.
Barton came out and played its best basketball of the entire season for the first 25 minutes.
The Cougars led 7-0 before the unbeaten Warriors got on the scoreboard 3:30 into the contest.
The biggest run Barton gave up the entire first half to Indian Hills was 4-0 on two occasions.
Marvin Cannon played like Superman over the final eight minutes of the half as the Cougars built a 41-27 halftime lead.
Cannon scored nearly every way possible in those final eight minutes of his way to a game-high 35 points.
He hit pull-up jumpers, drives to the basket, and free throws. His emphatic putback dunk with 2:50 to play in the first half was the highlight of the opening 20 minutes and gave Barton a 34-21.
Things didn’t change to start the second half. When Cannon hit a pair of free throws with 15:35 to play, the Cougars had built a 21-point lead, 53-32.
“We played pretty good yesterday, but probably not,” Coach Fletchall said when asked if his team had played any better this season than those first 25 minutes.
But Indian Hills did not come into the game unbeaten for no reason.
The Warriors whittled away at the lead. 
After a Cannon jumper with 10:24 to play, Barton still held a double-digit lead 62-49.
It was at that point the Cougars’ roller-coaster continued its decent. 
Barton would score two points over the next five minutes while Indian Hills was getting any shot it wanted. What took place over that five-minute span was a 20-2 run that put the Warriors up, 69-64, with 5:35 to play.
“We made a run and got up by five in the second half and I thought we were playing extremely well,” said Indian Hills Coach Hank Plona. “We added some pressure, went a little smaller and got in an up-and-down game with them, which I thought worked to our advantage for a long time.”
Fletchall agreed.
“They just took it at us in the second half,” Coach Fletchall said. “When you’re behind like they were, you want to drive and get to the free throw and score when the clock’s not running. That clock looked like an eternity up there.”
But the Cougars didn’t fold. Instead, Barton found its resilience.
Cannon hit a pair of free throws after an offensive rebound then drove to the hoop for a field goal the next trip down and Barton trimmed the lead to 69-68. That was Barton’s only field in the final 10:24 of regulation.
Barton went up 73-72 on a Cannon free throw with 2:05 to play but the Cougars again found themselves with their backs to the wall in the final minute, trailing 76-73. Two Noah Webster free throws with 37 seconds left and another by Elijah Ford with nine seconds left tied the game at 76-all.
The Cougars had to survive a last-second shot by Devontae Lane that looked like it was dead-on.
“Character and resiliency when you’re down five, a lot of teams at this level would have hung their heads and checked it in,” Coach Fletchall said.
In overtime, Wilkins gave Barton the lead 78-76 on a layup 50 seconds in. Webster put Barton back on top 80-78 the next trip down with a driving layup as the teams traded baskets.
It continued when Cannon broke an 80-all tie on a tip in with 2:41. 
It looked like Indian Hills was going to take its turn but James Jean-Marie’s shot near the rim was harshly rejected by Cannon.
However, Barton did not score again for more than two minutes as Indian Hills went up 83-82 on Jean-Marie’s layup with 48 seconds left.
That set up the finger roll by Wilkins. With the shot clock running down, Wilkins drove the lane and just beat that shot clock with that finger roll that nestled into the net with 19 seconds to play.
Shane Gatling missed a jumper that would have put the Warriors back on top. Wilkins grabbed the rebound and was immediately fouled with 4.6 seconds to play. He missed the first but hit the second.
Antonio Williams drove down the floor, but lost his dribble momentarily and did not get a very good look on his 3-pointer at the buzzer.
Cannon had a huge game off the bench, scoring those 35 points and grabbing 15 rebounds. He made 10-of-16 field goal and 14-of-17 free throws. Cannon also had three blocks.
“We knew they were 33-0,” Cannon said. “Once we got the lead and once we expanded the lead, we knew they were going to come back. They haven’t lost for a reason. We knew it was going to be fight to the end.”
He was joined in double figures by Wilkins with 13, Keshon Montague with 13 and Ford with 11. Montague had 10 assists as well to join Cannon with a double-double.
Gatling led a quartet of Warriors in double figures with 25.

NJCAA Men’s Basketball Bracket
First Round 
Monday, March 19 
at Sports Arena in Hutchinson
16 Barton 86, 17 Tyler 63
9 Trinity Valley 100, 24 Baltimore City 54
15 Western Nebraska 87, 18 Holmes 73
10 Southern Idaho 119, 23 Snead State 82
13 South Plains 91, 20 Highland 71
12 Connors State 84, 21 Central Ga. Tech 78

Tuesday, March 20 
14 Motlow State 77, 19 Otero 76
11 Hutchinson 84, 22 Cape Fear 60

Second Round 
Tuesday, March 20
16 Barton 85, 1 Indian Hills 83 (ot)
8 Eastern Florida 85, 9 Trinity Valley 80
2 Northwest Florida 109, 15 Western Nebraska 91
10 Southern Idaho 103, 7 Odessa 95

Second Round 
Wednesday, March 21 
13 South Plains 79, 4 Salt Lake, Utah 78
12 Connors State 90, 5 Coffeyvillle 85
3 Vincennes 86, 14 Motlow State 82
6 Florida Southwest 80, 11 Hutchinson 65

Quarterfinals
Thursday, March 22 
16 Barton (29-6) vs 8 Eastern Florida (28-4), noon
2 Northwest Florida (31-2) vs 10 Southern Idaho (29-5), 2 pm
13 South Plains (26-8) vs. 12 Connors St (31-3), 6 pm
3 Vincennes (33-1) vs. 6 Florida Southwest (30-2), 8 pm

Semifinals
Friday, March 23 
6 p.m.—National semifinal one
8 p.m.—National semifinal two

Saturday, March 24 
5 p.m.—Third place game
7 p.m.—NJCAA National Championship