Barton County ends 0-3 in Utah

Barton County ends 0-3 in Utah
The trip to St. George, Utah, did not quite go how the Barton County Community College men's basketball thought it would might. The Cougars dropped all three games at the Dixie State College New Year's Tournament, losing on the final day to Globe Tech (N.Y.), 102-94. The loss drops Barton County, who entered the tournament at the No. 2 ranked in the country, to 11-3 for the year. Globe Tech is now 12-2.

The Cougars were originally slated to play Victor Valley (Calif.), a team that had won just two games the previous two season. That game was to be for 7th place. But Victor Valley decided not to finish out the tournament, forcing the tournament organizers to go to a back-up plan. Chipola (Fla.) and host Dixie State had earn their way the title game. Also at the tournament was an All Star team from the area, so they were taken out of the final day along with Victor Valley. Of the four teams remaining, the Utah Valley State had not played Westchester (N.Y.) and Barton County had not played Globe Tech, so those two games were set up for the final day.

Highlights
The Cougars played good basketball in the first half, riding the strong play of Robert Whaley to a 12-point lead on a couple of occasions in the first half. Whaley had 17 first half point as Barton County took a 55-49 lead into halftime.

But in the first two minutes of the first half, Whaley picked up his third and fourth fouls and took a seat on the bench. He was soon joined by Jason Carter, the Cougar's leading scorer. Fouls and free throws turned out to be a big part of the contest. Three Cougars (Whaley, Aaron Patterson, and Elisha Fields) all fouled out while four more Cougars finished with four personals. The game saw 61 fouls called with 36 being whistled on the Cougars.

The Cougars final lead of the game came on a Cody Rierson jumper with 8:20 to play, giving Barton a 78-77 lead. Carter led Barton with 20 points, followed by Whaley's 17 -- all in the first half. Joining the two in double figures were Fields with 13 and Jesse McClung with 10. Gabriel English had 20 for the Knights and Rapheal Martinez added 18 points and 12 rebounds.

Next Up
The Cougars will not play again until Jan. 9 when they travel to Concordia to open Jayhawk West play against Cloud County Community College. Tip will be at 8 p.m.

Coach Ryan Wolf comments
"The first half looked good until last three minutes. We were up 14 and let them back in the game. We don't take care of the ball and they make a run.

"What was really frustrating is getting guys not defending on the perimeter, that results in our guys getting in foul trouble. Our post guys came to play.

"Rob (Whaley) comes out in first half and hits 7-of-8 shots then picks up two early fouls in the second half. But it wasn't his fault, the perimeter guys let them go around them."

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