No. 18 Barton edged late, suffer first setback of season at Mineral Area #GoBarton

The No. 18 Barton Community College men's basketball team suffered its first blemish of the 2025-26 season Wednesday evening, falling 70-66 to receiving votes Mineral Area College inside the Bob Sechrest Field House in Park Hills, Missouri.

The Cougars drop to 2-1 on the season, while the Cardinals notch their first victory of the year to move to 1-2 overall. Barton will have the weekend off before returning home Tuesday for its 2025-26 home opener, hosting State Fair Community College in a 7:30 p.m. tip-off inside the newly renovated Fleske Fieldhouse.

Barton jumped out of the gates quickly, racing to a 17-7 advantage by the 11:04 mark of the first half. Mineral Area countered with an 11-0 stretch to grab its first lead, but the Cougars closed the half strong, finishing on an 11-2 run over the final 2:40 to take a 33-26 lead into the locker rooms.

The Cardinals regained control midway through the second half, using a 12-2 surge to go ahead 40-37. Barton clawed back behind a perimeter flurry, stringing together four straight three pointers over a two-minute stretch, the sequence starting by Blake Rucker's first triple, followed by Pavel Ivanov's and capped by Rucker's third in that span to draw the Cougars even at 53-53 with 7:22 remaining.

Following an Aris Rodriguez bucket to knot it back up at 57-all, Noah Williams gave Barton the lead twice with back-to-back baskets, the final coming at 61-59 with 1:55 to play. However, a decisive 8-0 Mineral Area response in a 45-second span generated the separation needed at 67-61. The Cougars trimmed it to two with 2.8 seconds remaining, but a pair of Cardinal free throw tosses spoiled one final Barton rally.