The avalanche of points that Barton Community College’s men’s basketball team buried the Tabor junior varsity with on Tuesday night came heavy and hard.
When the Tabor JV emerged from the rumble, the 3-0 Cougars had a 121-67 victory in tow, their third straight game where they passed the century mark on the way to a manhandling.
Sometimes you have to wonder if games like these do a team any good, yet all of Barton’s Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference opponents are doing the same thing, having a soft November schedule.
“It’s an opportunity to improve and play a lot of guys,” Barton head coach Craig Fletchall said. “I looked at what the state schools are doing and for our fans, it’s kind of wading through a couple weeks of this.
“But for us, it’s about trying to reward some guys that are working hard and we’re trying to mix-and-match some freshmen and sophomores.”
The Cougars placed seven players in double figures, including a game-high 21 points on 10-for-10 shooting from 6-foot-4 sophomore southpaw Darius Hill.
Carl Wallace, a sophomore swingman, had a double-double with 15 points and 10 rebounds, and Algie Key made 6 of 7 shots from the floor and finished with 14 points to go along with eight rebounds.
The dominant Dwayne Brunson, a sophomore power forward, finished with 14 points and nine rebounds, including an explosive second-half dunk.
Freshman forward Jonathan Pittman had 13 points, and Turon Parker, a freshman guard, had 10 points and nine assists. Sophomore guard DaVonte Grant dished out eight assists.
“Forty assists in this game was good for us,” Fletchall said of his team’s ball distribution. “We talked to our guys about being really unselfish. Guys sometimes try to build on their stats in games like these, but our guys were very unselfish.”
The Cougars head to the Salina Classic on Friday and Saturday.
JUNIOR COLLEGE BASKETBALL
Tuesday
At Kirkman Activity Center
Great Bend
MEN
Barton Community College 121,
Tabor College Junior Varsity 67
TABOR JV (0-2)
JT Nemit 3-10 0-0 6 , Cody Arnold 4-12 0-0 10, Matt Bird 5-14 2-2 13, Hayden Musgrove 2-8 0-0 4, Nic Leppke 5-8 0-0 11, Shane Terrell 0-1 0-0 0, Nick Rice 0-7 0-0 0, Nick Hampton 3-5 0-2 6, Dylan Janzen 0-1 0-0 0, Josh Beck2-3 2-2 6. AJ Wiens 5-7 0-0 11. Totals 29-76 4-6 67.
BARTON (3-0)
Jonathan Pittman 6-10 1-4 13, Turon Parker 3-5 4-6 10, Algie Key 6-7 0-0 14, Carl Wallace 6-8 3-4 15, Darius Hill 10-10 1-2 21, Jalen Boyd 3-8 1-2 7, Andell Cumberbatch 7-16 0-0 14, Shaka Thomas 1-4 0-0 3, Julian Rose 3-5 0-0 0 6, DaVonte Grant 1-6 1-2 4, Dwayne Brunson 7-13 0-0 14. Totals — 53-93 11-20 121.
Halftime — Barton 66, Tabor JV 24. Three-point goals — Barton 4-17 (Key 2-2, Thomas 1-3, Grant 1-6, Cumberbatch 0-3, Boyd 0-2, Profitt 0-1); Tabor JV 5-24 (Arnold 2-8, Leppke 1-1, Wiens 1-1, Bird 1-4, Musgrove 0-2, Rice 0-4, Nemit 0-3, Terrell 0-1). Rebounds — Barton 58 (Walllace 10, Brunson 9, Key 8); Tabor JV 37 (Weins 6, Nemit 6). Assists — Barton 40 (Parker 9, Grant 8); Tabor JV 17 (Hampton 3, Musgrove 3). Steals — Barton 10 (Cumberbatch 3); Tabor JV 7 (Nemit 2, Arnold 2, Rice 2). Turnovers — Tabor JV 22 (Nemit 5); Barton 11 (Pittman 2, Boyd 2, Cumberbatch 2).
