CONCORDIA — It was fast and it was furious, just as advertised.
The No. 9-ranked Barton Community College Cougars came into a hostile environment known as Arley A. Bryant Gymnasium on the Cloud County campus Wednesday night.
And when the dust finally settled in this feverish, back-and-forth Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference Western Division clash, Barton emerged with an 86-82 victory after exploding for 54 second-half points.
“Our guys came together on the road and persevered on a night when we didn’t play our best basketball,” Barton head coach Craig Fletchall said. “We looked a little fatigued in the first half, and Cloud looked a little fatigued in the second half.
“They hit us in the face and established the pace early and got a lot of points off turnovers. In the second half, they only hit one 3.”
The Cougars, now 20-2 overall, celebrated their sixth straight conference victory by pulling into a three-way tie for first place with Colby and Seward as Seward lost on Wednesday night. Barton travels to Seward on Saturday night.
Barton guard Algie Key also exploded, scoring a career-high 30 points on 12-for-17 shooting, including 3-for-3 from downtown.
“He hit some big shots,” Fletchall said of Key. “He was 3-for-3 from 3, which was huge. His penetration was big in the second half and we were a little worried to have him out with two fouls in the first half.”
Although Key, a 6-foot-3 freshman guard, was burdened with two first-half fouls, he took the game over after intermission, scoring 17 second-half points as the Cougars came up with some big plays in the waning moments.
“I don’t want to lose,” Key said, “so I do everything I can to win. I want to do everything I can to help my team win.
“We knew that we were playing the two best guards that we’ll probably see all season (in Cloud’s Devon Branch and Richard Carter) and we knew it was going to be an up-and-down game. We came back in the second half and fought back.”
BCC led 82-77 with 25.3 seconds left before Cloud cut the margin to 82-80 after Branch made 3 of 4 free throws. But Julian Rose knocked down four straight foul shots in the final 12.5 seconds to ice the win.
“I think all 10 of our guys that played contributed,” Fletchall said. “DaVonte (Grant) taking a charge at the end of the first half was huge. Jon Pittman hit some big baskets and obviously, Julian Rose hitting some free throws down the stretch.
“This is two Wednesdays in a row where we have given teams their first home loss. Colby and Cloud hadn’t lost at home, and that’s huge.”
Branch finished with 22 points and Carter totaled 15 for the Thunderbirds (15-7, 4-4).
JUNIOR COLLEGE BASKETBALL
Kansas Jayhawk Community
College Conference
Western Division
At Concordia
Arley A. Bryant Gymnasium
MEN
Wednesday
No. 9 Barton 86, Cloud 82
BARTON (19-2, 6-2)
Andell Cumberbatch 1-5 0-2 2, Turon Parker 2-4 3-3 7, Algie Key 12-17 3-6 30, Carl Wallace 4-12 3-5 11, Darius Hill 2-5 3-6 7, Jonathan Pittman 3-5 0-0 6, Kurt Walker 0-1 4-4 4, Julian Rose 0-1 4-4 4, DaVonte Grant 0-2 0-0 0, Dwayne Brunson 5-9 5-7 15.Totals 29-61 25-37 86.
CLOUD (15-7, 4-4)
Richard Carter 4-13 7-8 15, Devon Branch 8-14 6-7 22, Derek Cooke 5-6 0-1 10, Onzie Branch 3-11 3-4 10, Rodrick Robinson 4-5 1-3 9, Tre’Vell Luarks 1-1 0-0 2, Kyler Haverkamp 1-6 0-0 2, Gerrae Williams 3-4 0-0 8, Mark Mock 0-0 0-0 0, Alioune Mbdoup 0-0 0-0 0, Alex Williams 0-0 0-0 0, Jeremiah Brooks 0-0 0-0 0, Conner McDaniel 1-6 1-4 4. Totals 30-66 18-25 82.
Halftime — Cloud 37, Barton 32. Three-point goals — Barton 3-8 (Key 3-3, Grant 0-2, Cumberbatch 0-2, Wallace 0-1); Cloud 4-17 (Williams 2-2, McDaniel 1-4, O. Branch 1-3, Carter 0-2, D. Branch 0-3, Haverkamp 0-3,). Rebounds — Barton 41 (Wallacer 9, Brunson 8); Cloud 39 (D. Branch 8, Cooke 8, Robinson 8). Assists — Barton 17 (Parker 4); Cloud 13 (Carter 6). Steals — Barton 13 (Key 3, Wallace 3); Cloud 13 (Cooke 6). Turnovers — Barton 20, Cloud 18.
