DODGE CITY, Kan. (BartonSports.com) – Playing shorthanded Saturday afternoon on the road, next man up was the theme for the 18th ranked Barton Community College men’s basketball team as the Cougars prevailed over adversity for an 87-75 victory at Dodge City Community College.
Barton scored the first four points in never trailing in the contest that was tied just twice, with the final deadlock coming at 12-all.
The Cougars connected on 57% of their first half shots in leading by eight at the break, extending the margin into and around double-digits for the final ten minutes with its largest lead of sixteen coming with four minutes remaining.
The fifth straight win of the series concluding the fall portion of the schedule improves Barton to 5-3 in KJCCC play and 10-3 overall while Dodge City drops to 2-5 in league and 5-8 on the season.
Following the holiday break, Barton brings in Mineral Area College for a Saturday, January 4, non-conference 4:00 p.m. contest before returning to league play January 8 hosting Fort Hays Tech Northwest.
Injuries cut the Barton roster short going into its fall finale as leading scorer and rebounder Brent Moss, along with Modibo Sanogo and Fontaine Williams each sat out the contest.
Keandre Kindell picked up the slack scoring 16 of his career tying 22 points in first half action, grabbing 7 rebounds and dishing out 3 assists. Aris Rodriguez followed with 3-of-5 long distance shooting for 19 points in reaching double-figures in his 5th straight game.
Making just his second collegiate start, James Parlow, Jr. put up career high numbers for the third straight contest registering his first double-double performance by scoring 16 points and hauling down 14 rebounds.
Sebastian Muchitsch also posted a double-double effort of 13 points and 13 rebounds for his second on the season.
Coming off the bench, Eltramon Smith, Jr. reached double digits for the first time by pouring in a career high 12 points on 4-of-6 shooting including 2-of-4 from beyond the arc and grabbed 5 rebounds with 3 shot rejections on the defensive end.
Lyna Brooks, Jr.‘s 4 points and Lucas N’Gombo‘s solo point rounded out the scoring as each grabbed a pair of rebounds helping Barton to a plus-17 advantage on the boards.
Barton finished at 47.7% shooting, 8-of-29 from long distance, and 17-of-26 from the charity stripe.
Defensively Barton helped hold Dodge City to just 31.3% shooting, the second worst against the Cougars this season and a near equal 11-35 (31.4%) from long range with 22 points on 33 attempts coming from the free throw line.
Derrick Rivers’ 5-of-11 arc buster shooting led Dodge City with 21 points as Mynor Strong’s 3-of-6 long range connections led to a 20-point outing. Kyle Burns added 11 points, Daouda Cisse with 10 points and 8 rebounds, and Jayse Boatright’s 9 points highlighted the Conquistador shooting.
RECAP
Kindell and Rodriguez put the first four points on the scoreboard as the game was tied only twice coming at 10 and 12-all.
A pair of four-point spurts opened up the margin with Kindell’s 1-of-2 free throws coming out of the 10:54 media timeout pushing the gap out to eight.
The Conquistadors would later string five straight cutting the deficit to its closest of two at 29-27 but another quick Barton four-point surge widened the margin.
The teams traded a pair of three-pointer trips, Rodriguez’ burying the Cougars’ pair of deep shots, with an ensuing big defensive play by Smith, Jr. rejecting a 3-vs-1 situation resulting in a zero point trip for Dodge City. On the other end, Smith, Jr. canned just his third three-pointer of the season putting Barton up by its largest of ten with sixty seconds remaining in the half.
Parlow, Jr.’s find of Muchitsch to open second half scoring pushed the gap back out to double-digits but later on the Conqs’ third trey in the opening four minutes sliced the difference to just four.
Two minutes later the gap closed to just three on Rivers’ 5th and final three-pointer of the game.
The margin would be as close as it would be for the remaining thirteen minutes as a 7-0 Barton run coupled with defensive stops pushed it back to double-digits at the ten minute mark.
Another four-point stretch opened up a 12-point lead with 8:17 left, a 14-point lead ensued at the 5:11 mark on Rodriguez’ And-1, with the game’s largest advantage of 16 points coming at the four minute mark on Parlow, Jr.’s second triple.
