Barton notches big road win at Hutchinson

Barton notches big road win at Hutchinson
The Barton County Community College men's basketball team seems to like life on the road in the Jayhawk West. The Cougars won their third straight road game in the conference Wednesday night, knocking off Hutchinson in the Sports Arena, 81-72.

Barton County, ranked No. 7 in the country, is now 18-2 overall and 5-1 in the Jayhawk West. Hutchinson falls out of a tie for second with Barton County, dropping to 17-3 overall and 4-2 in the West.

Highlights
After the two teams traded baskets in the early stages of the contest, Barton County settled in to a lead the Cougars would not give up. In fact, Barton County led most of the second half by 7 or more points.

After the two teams traded baskets to start the second half to put Barton up 37-34, the Cougars went on a 10-3 run to grab a 47-37 lead after a pair of free throws by Nouha Diakite with 15 minutes to play. The closest the Blue Dragons would get the after was at 55-51 following a trey by Maurice Findley with 8:59 to play.

The Cougars pushed the lead by 10 at 66-56 on a Justin Rose bucket with 5:49 to play and Barton and Hutch got no closer than 7 down the stretch.

Diakite had a big night for the Cougars, pouring in 18 points and a career-high 14 rebounds for his 5th career double-double as a Cougar. Rose matched Diakite with 18 points and a grabbed 8 rebounds from his guard spot. All five Cougars starters again reached double figures with Randy Pulley adding 16 and Barton's top two scorers on the season - Robert Whaley and Rodney Epperson - each tossing in 11.

Stats
Stats can be found at www.bartonccc.edu/sports

Next
The Cougars, now 3-1 on the road in the West, will return home for the time since Jan. 13 when they host Dodge City Saturday at 8 p.m.

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Check out Barton County Men's Basketball Online at www.bartonccc.edu/sports