It looked like the Barton men’s basketball team had found a way to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.

The Cougars led most of its Jayhawk West battle with Pratt, including by as many as 15 points. Barton even led by 10 late in the second half. 

But in the game’s waning seconds, Barton trailed Pratt by a pair.

That is until John Williams buried a 3-pointer from deep in the corner with just three seconds left. Williams 3-pointer saved the Cougars, giving Barton an 87-86 win at the Barton Gym Monday night.

“It wasn’t the prettiest, but a win is win,” Coach Craig Fletchall said. “We played really well the first half but let them back in. After that is was just a dogfight. We were fortunate to win.”

The win kept the Cougars in the hunt near the top of the Jayhawk West at 5-2. Barton is now 14-2 overall. Pratt falls to 1-7 and 8-9.

It was a game that Barton was in control nearly the entire first half.

The Cougars scored five points in the first minute, capped by a Leondre Washington 3-pointer. 

Back-to-back offensive rebound put-backs by Williams and Akeem White made it 11-3. The Cougars weren’t done. A block by Elijah Ford and a layup by White had the Cougars on top 13-3 just four minutes in.

Barton kept scoring. By the media timeout the Cougars had put 31 points on the board and 31-17. By that point, Barton was hitting nearly 60 percent from the field and Washington and White both had 11 points.

Barton led by as many as 15 points in the opening half before cooling off a bit late in the half. The Cougars went to half on top 46-37.

In that first half, Barton hit 50 percent from the floor, out-rebound Pratt by a 24-10 margin and score 15 second chance points.

A technical foul on Pratt Coach Sean Flynn leaving the floor at half gave Barton an additional point before the second half even started.

But Pratt cut into the Barton lead of 10 early in the second half. The Beavers got it down to 50-48 four minutes into the half.

Pratt kept the pressure on. The Beavers took their first lead of the game at 52-51 with 15 minutes left. A floating jumper from Tyvon Taylor made it 54-51 before Barton recovered from the Pratt run.

Washington hit a shot and the ensuing free throw to top the 20-point mark and tie the game at 54-all with 14:20 left in the game.

The game turned into a slugfest the next several minutes. The teams traded the lead a handful of times over the next four minutes before back-to-back 3-pointers by Martin Vogts gave Barton a 66-63 lead with just more than 10 minutes left.

Another trey by Vogts pushed Barton’s lead to 73-68 with 7:40 to play. A steal and layup by Ford extended the lead to 79-72 with 5:30 left. Washington buried his fifth trey the next possession and the Cougars had a 10-point lead once again, 82-72.

But just when it looked like the Cougars were in control, three straight treys by Pratt cut it to 82-81 with 3:20 left.

A pair of free throws by Vogts ended the 9-0 run but the Cougars’ couldn’t shake the Beavers.

Drew Maschoff gave Pratt an 85-84 lead with 1:15 left on a pair of free throws. Barton missed a couple chances to take the lead in the final minute including a missed trey from Washington.

Maschoff went back to the line for Pratt with just 15 seconds to play, hitting 1-of-2 to make it 86-84, setting up Williams corner three heroics.

It was the first made 3-pointer for Williams of the game, missing his first five from distance.

Washington ended with a career-high 31 points followed by White with 16 and Vogts with 14. Williams and his game-winner finished with seven points and grabbed seven rebounds.

Taylor and Maschoff each had 21 to lead Pratt.

The Cougars will head to Dodge City Wednesday night at they begin their trek through the Western half of the Jayhawk. The Conquistadors ended a 5-game losing streak with a win over Colby Monday. Tip will be at 7:30 p.m.

BARTON 87, PRATT 86

Pratt      37  49 – 86

Barton   46  41 – 87

PRATT (8-9, 1-7) –Taylor 9-11 0-0 21, Lakovic 2-2 0-0 4, Fifer 1-4 0-0 3, Fisher 4-6 0-0 8, Honas 2-3 0-0 5, Furcron 6-14 1-2 16, Maschoff 4-15 11-13 21, Davis 0-0 0-0 0, Austell 3-5 1-2 7, Bivins 0-2 1-2 1. Totals – 31-62 14-19 86.

BARTON (14-2, 5-2) -–Vogts 4-10 2-2 14, Washington 9-18 8-9 31, Ford 4-6 0-0 8, Williams 3-10 0-2 7, White 6-8 3-6 16, Andrews 0-0 1-2 1, Johnson 2-2 0-0 4, Hunt 1-2 0-0 2, Bryson 0-0 0-0 0, Caldwell 1-5 1-2 4, Gildyard 0-2 0-0 0, Amandio 0-0 0-0 0, Morris 0-0 0-0 0. Totals – 30-63 15-23 87.

3-pointers–P 10-25 (Taylor 3-5, Furcron 3-6, Maschoff 2-8, Honas 1-2, Fifer 1-4), BC 12-32 (Washington 5-10, Vogts 4-8, White 1-1, Caldwell 1-5, Williams 1-6, Hunt 0-1, Gildyard 0-1). Rebounds–P 31 (Lakovic, Maschoff 7), BC 39 (Ford, Williams 7). Assists–P 14 (Taylor 6), BC 16 (Washington 5). Steals–P 8 (3 with 2), BC 5 (Williams 2). Blocks–P 4 (Lakovic, Fisher 2), BC 4 (Ford 2).

JAYHAWK WEST MEN

Seward County 6-1 13-3 

Hutchinson 6-2 15-2

Barton 5-2 14-2

Colby 4-4 9-8

Garden City 2-6 7-10

Dodge City 2-6 7-10

NW Tech 1-7 9-8

Pratt 1-7 8-9

JAYHAWK EAST MEN

Coffeyville 8-1 17-2

Independence 6-3 11-7

Allen County 4-3 12-4

Butler 5-4 12-6

Neosho County 4-4 11-7

Cloud County 4-5 10-8

Cowley 3-6 11-8

SATURDAY

Butler 82, Garden City 69

Coffeyville 108, Dodge City 80

Colby 72, Independence 71

Hutchinson 85, Cowley 76

Pratt 93, Cloud 73

MONDAY

Barton 87, Pratt 86

Butler 86, Cloud 77

Coffeyville 90, Cowley 60

Dodge City 83, Colby 79

Hutchinson 85, NW Tech 76

Independence 56, Neosho 51

Seward 90, Garden City 69

WEDNESDAY

Barton at Dodge City

Butler at Allen

Coffeyville at Cloud

Garden City at Hutchinson

Neosho at Cowley

NW Tech at Colby

Seward at Pratt