Costly loss sends Cougars on the road for first round of playoffs

Opportunity knocked for the Barton Community College men's basketball team after the Cougars upset No. 16 Hutchinson Community College in Hutchinson.  Wednesday night at the Barton Gym the opportunity exited as the Cougars dropped a 74-72 contest to Garden City Community College.  Having put itself in a position to host a home playoff game with the victory over Hutchinson, a win by the Cougars would have given Barton the No. 2 seed in the Region VI Tournament.  Instead, the loss dropped the 20-10 Cougars into a four-way tie for third at 8-6 and sent the Cougars spiraling to the No. 6 seed in the region.   Garden City's victory improved the Broncbusters to 22-8 on the season and joined the third place log jam at 8-6 in conference play, dropping to the fifth seed due to tiebreakers.  Barton will next head to El Dorado to take on Butler Community College in first round action.  The Grizzlies finished third in the Jayhawk East at 7-5 and will bring a 21-9 overall record to the contest.  Game time at The Power Plant is scheduled for 4:00 p.m.

Garden City jumped all over the Cougars in the first five minutes racing to a 15-3 lead.  A pair of free throws by Christian Smith began the Cougars' climb back as Barton went on to outscore the Broncbusters 16-4 to tie the game at nineteen with 8:27 to play.  A back and forth battle the rest of the half, a June Johnson three pointer with twenty-three seconds gave Garden a three point lead and sent the Cougars to the locker room trailing at intermission for the first time in sixteen straight games.

Just like the last eight minutes of the first half, the first ten minutes of the second frame was back and forth with neither team gaining more than a three point advantage.  Sophomore Trey Unrau changed the flow of the game burying consecutive three-pointers as the Cougars methodically built their largest lead of eight points with 5:47 to play.

Still holding on to the eight point lead to the 4:19 mark, Barton began leaving the door open missing 2-of-4 free throws, a three pointer, and committing a turnover during the next two minutes.  Getting a pair of field goals and free throws from Jonathan Bell, the Broncbusters went on a 10-2 run in that span to tie the game at 70 with 2:14 to play.  

Following a pair of Tyler Corley free throws and a minute of stalemate between the teams, a pivotal Corley charging call wiped out an old fashioned three point play that would have given Barton a four or five point lead with seventy seconds to play.  Instead, it left the door open again for Garden City.

Working down the shot clock, Jalen Variste's drive down the lane was altered by Raheem Johnson but Jade Cathey was Johnny on the spot for the tip in to tie the contest for the thirteenth time with only fifty seconds remaining.  Back down the floor came the Cougars as Corley's quick-launched three-pointer rimmed out and Barton's Deriece Parks whistled for the foul on the rebound.  Reuben King calmly drained both free throws giving Garden City its first lead in fourteen minutes.

Arguably a top two defensive team in the conference this season, Garden City came up with the first of three big defensive stops in the remaining thirty seconds forcing Corley to put up a tough shot across the lane.  On the ensuing scrum for the ball, Darius Gibson drew the foul sending Cathey to the line with the opportunity to ice the game with twelve seconds.  Cathey missed both charity throws and following a Barton timeout, Corley missed another three pointer sending the ball towards the out of bounds.  With both teams in hot pursuit, Garden City last touched the ball giving Barton one last chance with 1.7 seconds to play.  

Utilizing another timeout, Barton drew up a perfect lob pass to Raheem Johnson who appeared to be in prime position to score the game-tying basket.  In another questionable call and setting up a controversial ending, Johnson was met in the air by the Broncbusters' D'Shon Taylor and knocked backwards crashing to the floor but no foul was called and Garden City hung on for the 74-72 win.

Tyler Corley led the Cougars with twenty-two points and three assists as Barton only had two players reach double figure scoring.  Raheem Johnson was the other, posting his third double-double in the last four games and the ninth of the season, in scoring ten points and grabbing fourteen rebounds to go along with three blocked shots.

Jonathan Bell nearly had a perfect night on the floor scoring seventeen points leading three Broncbusters in double figures.  The freshman from California was 6-of-7 from the floor and a perfect 4-of-4 from the charity stripe.  Jeremy Wilson scored sixteen while Jade Cathey came off the bench to score ten and lead the Broncbusters with seven rebounds.