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Fletchall makes Brunson super-sub as Barton decks No. 4-ranked Hutch
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BY MACK McCLURE

mmcclure@gbtribune.com

Barton Community College head men’s basketball coach Craig Fletchall tinkered with his starting lineup for the road clash with NJCAA No. 4-ranked Hutchinson on Thursday night.

 

Fletchall opted to bring budding freshman standout Dwayne Brunson, the 2011 Verizon Wireless Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference Player of the Week last week, off the bench against the Blue Dragons.

 

It paid big dividends for the Cougars, who led from start to finish in beating Hutchinson 70-63 at the Hutchinson Sports Arena.

 

 “We wanted to be a little quicker out of the gate and score some transition baskets,” Fletchall said, “so we wanted to bring Dwayne off the bench.

 

“It’s probably the most aggressive game he’s played in the paint. The Goff kid (Hutchinson’s Robert Goff) is going to the University of Oklahoma and Dwayne had to match up against heavyweights down there and he did well.”

 

Brunson, a 6-foot-7 forward from Bronx, N.Y., finished with a double-double, scoring 16 points and grabbing 11 rebounds. Sophomore forward Colin Beatty finished with 16 points and eight rebounds for the Cougars (15-3, 3-3).

 

Goff finished with a double-double, totaling 13 points and 13 rebounds for Hutch (17-2, 3-2), which has now lost two straight, slipping to fourth from No. 1 in the national juco poll after losing to Butler last Saturday night.

 

The Cougars drained 13 of 14 free throws against the Dragons, including 8-for-8 by point guard Storm Sanders and 4-for-4 from Beatty.

 

Adam Young added 13 points and five rebounds for the Cougars.

 

Barton was coming off a gut-wrenching 81-77 overtime loss to Butler at home on Monday night.

 

“Butler comes into our place and outworks us and outhustles us comes away with a road win,” Fletchall said. “Then we go out and win on the road.

 

“It’s a real up-and-down league, and it will probably be more of the same these final six weeks.”

 

Barton, which has played one more game than any other team in the Jayhawk West, is smack dab in the middle of the pack and in the thick of things.

 

Seward leads the West at 4-1, Cloud County is 3-1 and Hutchinson and Garden City are 3-2, followed by the Cougars, who are idle until next Wednesday when they host Colby at Kirkman Athletic Center.