No. 11 Cougars rally late, escape Colby's upset bid with a final-second surge 73-70 victory #GoBarton

The 11th-ranked Barton Community College men's basketball team delivered a clutch closing burst Tuesday night at Fleske Fieldhouse, overcoming a cold first half and scoring the final four points in the last eight seconds to edge Colby Community College 73–70 in Jayhawk Conference action.

The win keeps Barton perfect in league play at 3-0 and pushes the Cougars to 8-1 overall, while Colby slips to 0-3 in the Jayhawk and 2-7 on the season.

Following a brief break for the holiday, Barton turns its attention to Saturday's road trip to 15th-ranked Coffeyville Community College in a 4:00 p.m. tip-off.

Trailing 70–69 with 33 seconds remaining, the Cougars leaned on its backcourt poise. Jon Byrd calmly sank two free throws with eight seconds left to nudge Barton ahead, then seconds later, forced Colby's 17th turnover to regain possession. Fouled after the inbounds, Jayden Ramirez' cool stroke of draining a pair of tosses with 2.5 seconds provided the final difference maker.

Aris Rodriguez led all scorers with 26 points, one shy of his career high, including 19 after halftime and a personal 10-run that gave Barton a three-point edge with 3:25 remaining. The sophomore guard shot 5-for-13 in the second frame, hit two threes, and went 7-for-8 at the stripe after the break to anchor the rally.

Ramirez added 11 points, seven coming in the second half and capped by the game-clinching free throws.

Barton's bench played pivotal roles at various spots throughout the night. Lazare Mbala provided 11 points with a 4-for-4 performance at the line, and Pavel Ivanov chipped in nine points in nine minutes, including an energizing first half three-pointer.

Byrd added six points with a game-high five assists, one of which set up Noah Williams' powered dunk over a Trojan defender putting Barton up three with 2:12 left. Williams would lead the Cougars with 8 rebounds, helping Barton to a plus-nine rebound advantage, while adding 7 points and two assists.

Colby controlled much of the first half through perimeter shooting and free throws, hitting 6-of-15 from deep and 8-of-9 at the line to build a 34–28 halftime lead. D.J. Cason powered the Trojan attack off the bench with 20 points on 3-for-5 shooting from long range and a perfect 9-for-9 at the stripe. Aliou Diallo added 15 points with three triples, while Kellan Simoneau contributed 14 points on 3-of-5 from behind the arc.

Barton flipped the script defensively after intermission, limiting Colby to 33.3% shooting while converting 18-of-22 free throws and controlling the glass. For the game, the Cougars shot 22-for-54 (40.7%), 6-for-21 from three (28.6%), and 23-for-28 at the stripe (82.1%). Colby finished 19-for-55 (34.5%) from the field, 11-for-29 from deep (37.9%), and 21-for-26 at the line (80.8%).