By MIKE COURSON
Great Bend Post
The Barton Cougar men's basketball team received word last Thursday night that top-ranked South Plains College in Levelland, Texas was upset by Howard College for their first loss of the season. A win against Garden City Saturday, then, would likely move the Cougars into the No. 1 spot in the national rankings. But first, the squad had some other matters to attend to. Brent Kaiser, west region director for Special Olympics Kansas, was pleased to have the team volunteer for the basketball and cheerleading tournament Saturday at Great Bend High School.
"It just doesn't happen very often where, especially a collegiate sports team, has a game that day and just hours before that they're volunteering their time for an event that has so much meaning as what our events do," Kaiser said.
Barton Head Coach Jeremy Coombs reached out to Kaiser well before Saturday's event. Kaiser plans according to local schedules and knew the Cougars had a game that night. Coombs said his guys wanted to participate and were coming regardless.
The tournament, held in Great Bend for a second straight year, featured basketball games and skills competitions for basketball players and cheerleaders. The Cougar players manned the skills stations, helped keep score, and gathered loose balls for the competitors, leaving just five hours before tipoff in their own game.
"Not only that, but they brought a ton of enthusiasm while they were doing it," said Kaiser. "That's what we like to see at our events. It was cool and awesome to see young kids do that. They could have just been there and tried to get through it, but they didn't do that at all. They were high-fiving our athletes, cheering for them, dancing with them. All the things you just love to see."
The Cougars were on their way to a big season when Coombs signed the team up. Kaiser began following the team to chart their progress and knew a lot was at stake in Saturday's game. Mozae Downing-Rivers scored just six points in the win and had nine assists, but his runner off the glass with three seconds to play pushed the Cougars to a 70-68 win.
"He was really engaging with our athletes," Kaiser said. "He was phenomenal. Then to turn around and see him hit that shot, it was just a great cap to the day."
The Barton volleyball team also volunteered at Saturday's Special Olympics event. The top-ranked Cougar men travel to Dodge City tonight and host No. 15 Hutchinson on Saturday.