GARDEN CITY — After Garden City Community College upset the NJCAA No. 9-ranked Barton Cougars 66-47 on Wednesday night at Dennis Perryman Athletic Center, both teams got really upset.
Barton freshman post player Raheem Johnson and Garden City backup post player Arkeem Joseph had to be separated after exchanging some pleasantries during post-game handshakes in the aftermath of the Jayhawk West matchup.
After that, a near-melee broke out between the two teams as players, coaches and even school administrators were yelling at each other. Uniformed police officers came between them, sending them to their respective locker rooms.
“It was just a really ugly game,” Barton head coach Craig Fletchall said. “It was ugly for the conference. The mentality out there and the talking, it was a tough game all of the way around.”
Garden City guard Chris Hall, who scored 18 of his 20 points in the second half, knocking down five 3-pointers, directed a profanity to the Barton bench late in the game, when the Broncbusters had all but finished off the Cougars (15-2, 2-1).
“Refs don’t always pick up on that,” Fletchall said of Hall. “In a small gym with three refs, you hope some of that stuff wouldn’t be tolerated.”
Sophomore guard Frank Agholor made 8 of 16 field goals and 6 of 9 free throws to score a game-high 22 points for the Busters (9-8, 1-2), who drained 7 of 15 3-pointers and limited Barton to 28.3-percent shooting (17 for 60). The Cougars were only 2-for-15 from long range (13.3 percent).
Credit Garden’s slowdown tactics for disrupting the Cougars’ flow. In fact, the conference’s top-scoring team, averaging 88.8 points, finished over 40 points under their season average.
“Twenty-eight percent, the numbers don’t lie,” Fletchall said. “Defensively, they got up and were physical with us. We played two physical games back-to-back (beating Seward on the road and Dodge City at home), and we came in here and tried to play finesse with a team that was content on doing what they could do to escape from being 0-3.
“It was just an ugly game and there’s no excuse. The reality of it is, our guys have to do it on the floor for 40 minutes and we didn’t. They beat us in every facet, and we didn’t adjust. Especially when they got the lead, they really stretched it out.”
Barton was led by guards Al Key and Andell Cumberbatch, who combined for 29 points. Key scored 19 and Cumberbatch had six of his 10 in the second half.
Key’s jumper from the wing tied the game at 30 early in the second half, but the Busters scored seven straight, getting a Hall 3-pointer, a Joseph putback and a Joe Ebondo basket for a 37-30 lead with 14 minutes left.
Barton managed only 17 points the rest of the way.

JUNIOR COLLEGE BASKETBALL
Kansas Jayhawk Community College
Conference Western Division

MEN

Wednesday

At Garden City

Dennis Perryman Athletic Center

Garden City 66, Barton 47
BARTON (15-2, 2-1)
    Algie Key 7-19 5-8 19, Andell Cumberbatch 4-12 1-3 10, Kevin Kuteyi 3-13 0-0 7, Turon Parker 1-10 2-2 4, Raheem Johnson 1-2 2-2 4, Rapheal Stephens 1-2 0-1 2, Dominique Wilson 0-1 1-2 1, John Goodson 0-0 0-0 0, Andy Wiechman 0-0 0-0 0, Shaka Thomas 0-0 0-0 0, Travell Robinson 0-0 0-0 0, Trey Unrau 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 17-60 11-18 47.
GARDEN CITY (9-8, 1-2)
    Frank Agholor 8-16 6-9 22, Chris Hall 6-14 3-4 20, Reubon King 2-6 2-4 8, Jade Cathey 2-4 1-2 5, Joe Ebondo 2-4 0-1 4, Jamez Jones 1-2 1-2 3, Arkeem Joseph 1-4 0-0 2, Cody Bernbeck 1-2 0-0 2, Mike Chandler 0-0 0-0 0, Terry Webb 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 23-52 13-22 66.
    Halftime — Barton 23, Garden City 22. Three-point goals — Barton 2-15 (Cumberbatch 1-5, Kuteyi 1-5, Unrau 0-1, Parker 0-3, Key 0-1); Garden City 7-15 (Hall 5-9, King 2-4, Ebondo 0-1, Agholor 0-1). Rebounds — Barton 43 (Cumberbatch 9); Garden City 40 (Ebondo 11). Assists — Barton 9 (Parker 5); Garden City 4 (Agholor 4). Steals — Barton 4 (Key 2, Cumberbatch, Kuteyi); Garden City 3 (Agholor, King, Cathey). Turnovers — Garden City 8, Barton 7. Blocked shots — Garden City 4 (Algholor, King, Ebondo, Chandler); Barton 2 (Johnson, Stephens). Total fouls — Garden City 19, Barton 17. Fouled out — None. Technical fouls — Barton 2 (Kuteyi, Barton bench); Garden City 1 (Garden bench). 

KANSAS JAYHAWK
COMMUNITY COLLEGE CONFERENCE

Wednesday’s games

MEN
Highland 72, Labette 69
No. 10 Coffeyville 74, Cowley 61
No. 2 Hutchinson 81, Butler 67
Fort Scott 63, Neosho County 57
Johnson County 65, Kansas City 36
Garden City 66, No. 9 Barton 47
Dodge City 70, Colby 66
Independence 80, Allen 67
Seward County 81, Pratt 48