The 15th-ranked Barton Community College men's basketball team saw a conference win slip away at the horn Wednesday night at Fleske Fieldhouse, as Hutchinson Community College's Lolo Rudolph buried a three-pointer at the buzzer to hand the Cougars a 58–57 loss in Jayhawk Conference action.
Barton controlled much of the night, grinding its way to a 26–20 halftime lead, then opening the second half with a 9–2 surge to match its largest cushion of ten. Hutchinson gradually chipped away, but Barton continued to answer, stretching the margin back to seven with just over eight minutes left and still leading by four with 3:28 to play.
The Blue Dragons continued to grind, taking their first lead at 55–54 with 2:26 remaining. Without a field goal over the final three minutes, Barton connected on 3-of-4 at the charity stripe while Hutchinson came up empty on its ensuing possessions, resulting in the Cougars holding a 57–55 advantage and the ball with twenty-six seconds left. Coming out of their own timeout, the Cougars were unable to get a shot off, turning the ball over with nine ticks left. Hutchinson followed with a timeout, worked the ball around the perimeter, and ultimately found Rudolph on the right wing, where the sophomore drained a contested three as the horn sounded to complete the comeback.
Snapping Barton's eight-game winning streak in the series, the setback drops the Cougars to 3–2 in league and 8–3 overall, while the Blue Dragons improve to 2–3 in conference and 7–4 on the season.
The Cougars will look to rebound on Saturday, hosting Pratt Community College in a 7:30 p.m. tip-off.
Barton finished the night shooting just 28.8% from the floor but stayed in control most of the way behind a 40–28 advantage on the glass and a 16–4 edge in offensive rebounds.
Noah Williams posted a double-double with 15 points and 11 rebounds, while Aris Rodriguez and Jayden Ramirez added 10 points apiece. Sebastian Muchitsch nearly recorded a double-double off the bench with nine points and eight rebounds, and Pavel Ivanov chipped in six points. Jon Byrd led in the distribution with four assists.
Kyrell Shaw led all scorers with 18 points for Hutchinson, Bobby Cannon followed with 10 points, seven boards and five assists, and Kordell Williams contributed eight points. Rudolph's buzzer-beating three for his lone points of the night outshined his game-high six assists.