Cougars falter down the stretch to drop conference battle with No. 15 Hutchinson

For thirty-five minutes Wednesday night at the Barton Gym, the atmosphere and action on the court was reminiscent of the good 'ol days of Barton versus Hutchinson.  However a two minute 14-0 run by the Blue Dragons late in the contest was the difference as the Barton Community College Cougars fell 98-85 to No. 15 ranked Hutchinson Community College.  The loss drops the Cougars to 3-3 in conference play and 15-7 overall while co-conference leader Blue Dragons improve to 5-1 and 19-3 overall.  The Cougars hit the road for consecutive conference road games beginning Saturday at Garden City Community College for a 7:30 p.m. contest.  Following a trip to Dodge City Community College next Wednesday, the Cougars return home Saturday, February 8, against Cloud County Community College.

In a back and forth battle of first half action, the lead changed hands four times and had six ties as each team owned five-point advantages at various times.  The Cougars matched their largest lead of the half getting a Rashawn Walker dunk in the waning seconds as the freshman finished off point guard Tyler Corley's no look pass.  Averaging 3.6 per game, Walker scored nine points to join fellow freshman reserve Isaac Williams' eleven points in giving Barton a 26-8 first half advantage coming off the bench.

Back-to-back buckets by Darius Gibson early in the second half pushed the lead out to seven only to have Hutchinson's Austin Budke quickly answer with a trey.  A Deriece Parks bomb from behind the arc got the lead back out to seven as the Barton Gym rocked from a boisterous student body.   As the case throughout the night, Hutchinson's All-American and University of Arizona signee Kadeem Allen quickly brought the Blue Dragons back with consecutive buckets.

With the Cougars leading most of the second half, Hutchinson's Darrick Wood became a Cougar killer draining consecutive long range bombs to tie the game at 70 with 5:28 to play.  The spark ignited Hutchinson on a 17-2 run in a two minute span turning a four-point Barton lead into an 81-70 deficit with 3:33 to play.  

Barton would cut it to five with 2:11 remaining but as Hutchinson connected on 9-of-11 free throws and 3-of-4 from the field down the stretch, the Bleu Dragons left the Cougars little opportunity to make a comeback.

Darius Gibson's twenty-three points led four Cougars to reach double figures.  Reserves Deriece Parks and Isaac Williams led a 38-15 bench scoring advantage with eighteen and eleven points respectively, most coming from the arc as the duo made five of the Cougars six three-pointers but shot only a combined 31% in doing so.  Tyler Corley scored ten points while dishing out a team high seven assists including numerous no-look and pin-point passes.  Raheem Johnson scored nine but led Barton with eleven rebounds and three blocks while Rashawn Walker finished with nine points and seven rebounds including six off the offensive glass.

All of Hutchinson's points were generated from five players as all five reached double-figures and two posted double-double performances.  Kadeem Allen led all scorers with twenty-seven and grabbing ten rebounds while Darrick Wood scored a season high twenty-five on a season high three-pointers.  Coreontae DeBerry posted his fifth double-double of the season scoring seventeen points and grabbing thirteen rebounds.  Going 3-of-4 from behind the arc, Austin Budke scored sixteen while DeShawn Freeman added thirteen.  Allen led the team in assists with four with Budke close behind with three.

Other Notes:
Head Coach Craig Fletchall, Barton's all-time leader in wins, was honored prior to tip-off commemorating his 300th collegiate win.  With Barton's 72-66 victory over Seward County Community College on January 22, coupled with 101 wins earned while head coach at Neosho County Community College, Fletchall eclipsed the 300 mark.  Fletchall also eclipsed 200 wins at Barton following last Sunday's 79-69 victory at Colby.  To date, Fletchall's record at Barton stands at 200-79 with his career victory now at 301-137.