The No. 17 Barton men's basketball team completed its regular season mission Wednesday evening, earning an 85-79 road victory at Cowley College to clinch its second Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference title in the last three years.
Closing the regular season on a ten-game heater, Barton finishes tied atop the standings with No. 19 Butler Community College at 17-7 in conference play while improving to 22-8 overall. Cowley concludes its season at 18-12 overall and tied for fifth in the Jayhawk standings at 13-11.
By virtue of tiebreakers, including a 5-1 record against the other top-four teams in the standings, Barton claims the top seed in the Region 6 playoffs and earns a first-round bye. The Cougars will next take the floor Tuesday night at 7:30 p.m. inside Fleske Fieldhouse against the winner of the Cloud County–Garden City first-round matchup. Quarterfinal winners advance to Great Bend as Barton hosts both the semifinal and championship rounds beginning Friday, March 13.
Trailing for more than fifteen minutes of the opening half, including by as many as nine at the break, Barton erased a 44-37 halftime deficit by outscoring the host Tigers by fifteen points over the final twenty minutes.
The Cougars quickly chipped into the margin coming out of the locker room with six straight points before taking their first lead of the second half five minutes later on baskets from Noah Williams and Aris Rodriguez.
Rodriguez flipped the lead for good with an and-one finish at the 11:24 mark as Barton controlled the advantage the rest of the way. The Cougars still held just a one-point edge with 3:48 remaining before Blake Rucker ignited the decisive run, converting an old-fashioned three-point play across the 3:24 media timeout to spark a 9-0 Barton surge over the next two minutes, stretching the lead to its largest margin of the night at ten with 2:08 to play.
Cowley answered with the next seven points to tighten the margin inside the final minute, but Barton broke the Tigers' full-court pressure and sealed the outcome when Sebastian Muchitsch's big man finish through contact, converting the three-point play with 18.8 seconds remaining to secure the six-point victory.
Rodriguez led all players with 28 points, seventeen coming in second half action, with Williams adding 15 points, four rebounds, and two blocks. The duo combined for 20-of-23 free throw shooting, leading the squad's overall 38-of-46 from the stripe (82.6%).
Rucker provided a key spark off the bench with 14 points and five rebounds, knocking down 2-of-3 from beyond the arc including the catalyst bucket during Barton's late run, while Muchitsch finished with 12 points and seven rebounds.
Four Tigers also finished in double digit scoring, Marcus Smith leading with a stat stuffing 22 points, five rebounds, three assists, and a pair of steals. CJ Majors added 13 points, Leslie Owens, Jr. finished 11 points, and Jordan Smith chipped in 10 points off the bench.