Buzzer beaters in the postseason present some of the most memorable moments in basketball.

Almost buzzer beaters, well, for the Barton men’s basketball team it created heartbreak.

It looked as if Evans Kipruto had beat the buzzer Saturday night at the Barton Gym, hitting a shot to tie the contest and send it to overtime.

Well, it looked like that to those Barton fans in attendance. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case.

The shot was wiped off the board, ending Barton’s season.

Pratt came into the Barton Gym as the 10th seed and left with an 84-82 win over the 7th seeded Cougars to open Region VI play.

Pratt will head to Hutchinson for quarterfinal play against the second seed Blue Dragons Tuesday.

The contest only had four ties but three of those came in the final three minutes as Barton trailed by as many as 26 in the first half before whittling the halftime lead to just seven.

Myles Thompson capped a brief 4-0 run by Barton late in the contest to tie at 78-all with 2:53 left on a jumper. The next possession saw Thompson score on a layup from Hannes Saar for a new career-high of 16 points and yet another tie.

The layup tied the contest at 80-all with 2:15 on the clock.

Pratt would miss a 3-pointer on the next possession but an offensive rebound and foul gave the Beavers an 81-80 lead after Harrison Eghan made 1-of-2 free throws with 1:47 to play.

The Cougars missed an opportunity to take the lead when Trey Bates' jumper missed. Another 1-of-2 effort at the free throw line by Pratt gave Barton a chance to tie the game once again.

Saar did just that, converting a pair of free throws with 1:04 to play to even the contest at 82-all.

Pratt gave the Cougars a golden opportunity when Julian Eziukwu missed both free throws with 38 seconds left.

With a chance to take, Kipruto’s turnaround shot in the lane missed with 10 seconds to play, giving Pratt a chance to hit a game-winner.

Ezuikwu made up for his two missed free throws by knocking down an open layup with just 3.7 seconds to play for an 84-82 lead. 

Ezuikwu was open under the basket after three Cougars ran to the corner to pick up Nasan Ayala. Ayala dumped in the paint to the open Ezuikwu for the easy layup.

But the Cougars weren’t done.

With no timeouts, Thompson inbounded the ball to Saar who threw it under the Barton basketball to Modibo Sanogo. Sanogo flicked it to Kipruto who knocked down a 12-footer.

While the Barton fans in attendance celebrated, the officials immediately waved off the shot. 

Ball game. Season.

Kipruto led Barton with 18 points followed by Thompson with 16. Saar added 15 and Cougar Downing scored 13. Kipruto added 10 rebounds.

Cam Morris scored 18 for the Beavers. Eghan scored 16, Ayala 15 and Ezuikwu finished with 11 and the game-winner.

Pratt 84, Barton 82

Pratt 47  37 - 84

Barton 40  42 - 82

Pratt 15-16 (84)

Bailey 1-6 0-0 3, Eghan 5-14 3-5 16, Ayala 5-11 4-7 15, Morris 6-13 4-5 18, Thomas 3-9 2-2 9, Rhymes 2-5 0-0 4, Weston 2-2 2-2 8, Eziukwu 4-6 3-6 11. Totals - 28-66 18-28 84.

Barton 17-14 (82)

Downing 4-16 2-2 13, Saar 5-13 3-3 15, Bates 1-3 0-0 2, Hughes 0-0 0-0 0, Kipruto 6-8 6-9 18, Rolfs 0-0 0-0 0, Thompson 7-9 2-2 16, Jordan 4-9 2-2 12, Sanogo 3-3 0-0 6. Totals - 30-61 15-18 82.

3-pointers --  Pratt 10-22 (Eghan 3-5, Weston 2-2, Morris 2-3, Bailey 1-3, Ayala 1-3, Thomas 1-4), Barton 7-15 (Downing 3-7, Jordan 2-2, Saar 2-5, Bates 0-1).

Rebounds -Pratt 34 (Morris 15), Barton 42 (Kipruto 10). Assists - Pratt 17 (Bailey 6), Barton 16 (Saar 7). Steals - Pratt 11 (Thomas 4), Barton 5 (Saar 2). Blocks - Pratt 0, Barton 5 (Saar 2). 

Turnovers - Pratt 10, Barton 17. Fouled out - None. Technicals - Barton Bench.

Region VI Playoffs

1st Round at higher seeds

Saturday, Feb 26

1 Dodge received a bye

8 Colby 80, 9 Cloud 71

4 Garden received a bye

5 Coffeyville 67, 12 Seward 45

2 Hutch received a bye

10 Pratt 63, 7 Barton 82

3 Butler (22-8) receives a bye

6 Cowley 63, 11 Indy 60

Quarterfinals at higher seeds

Tuesday, March 1

8 Colby (16-14) at 1 Dodge (26-4), 7 pm

5 Coffeyville (18-12) at 4 Garden (21-9), 7 pm

10 Pratt (15-16) at 2 Hutch (23-7), 7:30 pm

6 Cowley (16-14) at 3 Butler (22-8), 7 pm

Semifinals at Salina

Friday, March 4

Semifinal 1, 3 pm

Semifinal 2, 7 pm

Finals at Salina

Saturday, March 5