Second half collapse again dooms Cougars in conference loss at Cloud County
For the second time in the young conference season, the Barton Community College men’s basketball team had the lead at halftime but failed to close out as the Cougars lost 91-82 Saturday night in Concordia to Cloud County Community College. Barton lead by as many as nine in the first half, settling for a seven point 45-38 lead at half, only to collapse in the second half giving up fifty-three second half points and shooting a dismal twenty-eight percent from the field. The loss drops the Cougars to 1-2 in Jayhawk West play and 13-6 overall while Cloud County wins their first conference game of the season to improve to 1-2 and 9-10 overall.
For the second time in the young conference season, the Barton Community College men's basketball team had the lead at halftime but failed to close out as the Cougars lost 91-82 Saturday night in Concordia to Cloud County Community College. Barton lead by as many as nine in the first half, settling for a seven point 45-38 lead at half, only to collapse in the second half giving up fifty-three second half points and shooting a dismal twenty-eight percent from the field. The loss drops the Cougars to 1-2 in Jayhawk West play and 13-6 overall while Cloud County wins their first conference game of the season to improve to 1-2 and 9-10 overall.
Next up for the Cougars will be the defending conference champion Seward County Community College Saints for a 7:30 p.m. tip on Wednesday at the Barton Gym. The Saints, 13-6 on the season, remained undefeated at 3-0 in conference play after dismantling defending Region VI champion and No. 12 ranked Hutchinson Community College 98-76 Saturday night in Liberal.
Darius Gibson led the Cougars in scoring for the fourth straight game, knocking down 12-of-13 from the charity stripe to finish with twenty-nine points. Tyler Corley, who scored eight straight in a second half stretch to keep the Cougars close, scored nineteen points in part to 4-of-7 shooting behind the arc while also leading the team in assists with four. Raheem Johnson was the third and final Cougar reaching double digits scoring sixteen points and grabbing a team high nine rebounds while also rejecting six Cloud County shots.
Lorenzo Dillard's twenty-two points led four Cloud County players in double digit scoring and also led the T-birds with six assists. Shaun Stewart was close behind with twenty-two points while Emeka Okoronkwo came off the bench to score seventeen while Marvin Smith scored thirteen. Leading the rebounding for Cloud County was Lionel Gomis with ten.