Coguars continue to roll; rally to beat Hutch
Those with a weak heart probably shouldn't attend too many Barton County Community College men's basketball games. Coming off the heels of an improbable come-from-behind overtime win at Butler County Saturday night, the Cougars were back at it again Wednesday. This time Barton rallied from a 15-point deficit with nine minutes to play to knock off Hutchinson, 88-86 at the Barton County Gym. The win puts Barton alone in third place in the West at 9-5. It also gave Barton its 6th straight 20-win season and the 14th in the last 15 years as the Cougars improved to 20-8. Hutchinson falls to 7-6 in the West and 19-8 overall.
Coguars continue to roll; rally to beat Hutch
Those with a weak heart probably shouldn't attend too many Barton County Community College men's basketball games. Coming off the heels of an improbable come-from-behind overtime win at Butler County Saturday night, the Cougars were back at it again Wednesday. This time Barton rallied from a 15-point deficit with nine minutes to play to knock off Hutchinson, 88-86 at the Barton County Gym. The win puts Barton alone in third place in the West at 9-5. It also gave Barton its 6th straight 20-win season and the 14th in the last 15 years as the Cougars improved to 20-8. Hutchinson falls to 7-6 in the West and 19-8 overall.
Highlights
The Cougars looked to be in trouble as Hutchinson built a 71-56 lead with nine minutes to play in the game. But the Cougars followed with a 19-4 run in the next four minutes to even the contest at 75-all when Jason Carter knocked down a pair of free throws. The Cougars continued the surge, pushing the run to 26-6 when Rapheal Posey scored on an assist from Robert Whaley to give Barton an 82-77 lead with three minutes to play.
The Blue Dragons rallied to tie the game at 84-all in the final minute then again at 86-all with just under 30 seconds to play, setting the final stage. At the center of that stage would be Elisha Fields. Jesse McClung drove the lane and had the ball knocked loose. Fields was in the right place at the right time, grabbing the ball and delivering a 7-foot jumper in the lane for the lead with five seconds to play. Hutchinson pushed the ball half court and called timeout with 2.1 seconds left. But a 3-point attempt by Josh Gonner over the tough defense of Posey didn't draw iron and the Cougars had their second straight cardiac win.
Carter paced four Cougars in double figures with 20 points and added seven rebounds. Posey followed with 19 and Whaley added 17 and eight rebounds on 6-of-9 shooting from the floor. McClung had 14 for the Cougars to go with four assists and three steals. Cody Rierson paced the club in assists off the bench, handing out six and collecting three steals as well.
Josh Gonner and Sasha Mijajlovic each scored 18 for the Blue Dragons. Mijajlovic added seven rebounds as well. Dainmon Gonner scored 16 and Aaron Lashley 13.
The contest was the 100th in the coaching career of Ryan Wolf at Barton County. The 3rd-year coach is now 81-19.
Next Up
Barton County is now off until Wednesday when the Cougars will travel to Colby to take on the Trojans. Colby earned a 77-68 win over Butler County Wednesday night and is now 5-9 in the conference and 16-12 overall. Tip will be at 8 p.m. at the Community Building.
Stats
Game boxes and cumulative stats can be found at the following website.
Barton County Men's Basketball Online at http://www.barton.cc.ks.us/sports/MB_01-02/mbasketball_01-02.htm