After knocking off a Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference Western Division foe on the road for the second straight Wednesday night, the No. 9-ranked Barton Community College Cougars moved into a first-place tie in the standings with Seward County and Cloud County.
With a 20-win season already in tow, the Cougars (20-2, 6-2) have won six straight conference games after opening league play with back-to-back losses.
Barton will be gunning for its seventh straight victory on Saturday night, traveling to Liberal to take on preseason favorite and 12th-ranked Seward (18-4, 6-2). The opening tip is set for 8, preceded by the women’s game at 6.
The Cougars, behind a 30-point flurry from freshman guard Algie Key, raced to an 86-82 win over Cloud County on Wednesday night in Concordia.
“It was great because we fought so hard to come back and then we found out after the game that Seward lost (80-66 to Hutchinson),” Key said. “We can go to Seward on Saturday and end up in first place by ourselves.”
On Wednesday, Cloud County led 47-36 with 16:08 remaining and still maintained a 63-55 edge with 9:03 left. But the lightning-quick Key, zig-zagging through traffic, spearheaded the Cougars’ most impressive comeback of the season.
After critical lead changes late, a three-point play by forward Dwayne Brunson with 1:17 left regained the lead for Barton at 79-77 and it never trailed again.
Barton role player Julian Rose converted four straight foul shots in the final 12 seconds to put a lid on it.
Colby (18-4, 6-2) throttled Pratt 110-81 on Wednesday night to move into a tie with Seward and Barton.
The Saints, who are 9-2 at home and have four players averaging in double figures, are led by Deverell Biggs. He is averaging 15.3 points and Irvin Hollinger is averaging 14.0.
Back on Jan. 25, an 81-74 loss to Garden City at home, Seward’s Trey Starks, listed as 5-foot-11, elevated to the top of the square on the backboard and threw down a one-handed tomahawk dunk over Garden’s 6-2 Xavier Carter. 
Two days later, the jam was selected as the No. 2 play on ESPN’s SportsCenter, behind only a LeBron James highlight-reel dunk for the NBA’s Miami Heat.