The 17th‑ranked Barton Community College men's basketball team rebounded from a disappointing road loss to open its home slate Tuesday evening with an 85–80 victory over State Fair Community College.
The Cougars improved to 3–1 on the season, while the Roadrunners slipped to 3–3 overall.
Barton now turns its attention to hosting the weekend's Best Western Angus Inn/Cougar Booster Club Classic, featuring eight games across two days. Due to local high school football playoff scheduling, the Barton women will open Friday's action at 1:00 p.m. against Grayson College, followed by the Cougar men facing NOC‑Enid at 3:00 p.m. The Colby women and men close the evening with games against Redlands College (5:30 p.m.) and NOC‑Tonkawa (7:30 p.m.), respectively.
Switching opponents for Saturday's slate, Barton's women and men will play the 5:30/7:30 p.m. contests, while Colby's squads headline the 1:00/3:00 p.m. games.
Trailing early, Barton erased a mid‑opening frame deficit with an 11‑0 run, taking its first lead since 1–0 on a Jayden Ramirez floater at the 9:01 mark to spark a five‑point advantage.
The Cougars carried a 33–29 edge into halftime, but State Fair came out strong with a 10–2 burst to tie it at 39 early in the second half. From there, the teams traded blows until the final minutes.
With the score knotted at 70 and just under four minutes remaining, Aris Rodriguez buried his lone three‑pointer of the night to give Barton the lead for good. Mikey Williams followed with a key bucket to extend the margin to six, and Pavel Ivanov's second triple of the game provided the separation Barton needed, as the Cougars closed it out from the free‑throw line over the final seventy seconds.
Rodriguez led all scorers with 19 points, while Noah Williams added 17 points and nine rebounds. Ivanov also contributed 16 points and nine boards to round out Barton's top scoring trio.
Sebastian Muchitsch chipped in eight points and pulled down ten rebounds to help Barton to a plus‑four margin on the glass, while Ramirez directed the attack with nine points and a game‑high seven assists.
For State Fair, Ibraheem Sylla posted a 16‑point, 13‑rebound double‑double. Andin Ashford added 13 points and a team‑high five assists, while Gavin Q. Murphy scored 11. Malik Ndiaye narrowly missed a double‑double with eight points and ten rebounds, and Nate Wilder added nine points.