The No. 15 Barton Community College men's basketball team took the lead for good midway through the second half and held off a late Lee College rally Saturday evening, earning a 92-87 victory at Fleske Fieldhouse to close out the Scooter's Coffee Tip-Off Classic.
Barton improved to 2-0 while Lee, which received votes in the national poll, fell to 0-3. The Cougars return to Fleske Fieldhouse this weekend for the Best Western/Booster Club Classic, which features eight games over two days. Barton opens with North Platte Community College on Friday followed by Northern Oklahoma College-Tonkawa on Saturday, with both games set for a 7:30 p.m. tip-off.
Barton trailed by seven in the first half before hitting five 3-pointers in the final six minutes to take a 47-46 lead into halftime. Mikey Williams hit three of those five and scored 16 of his career-high 29 points before the break.
The teams traded leads in the second half before Williams' jumper with 10:30 remaining put Barton ahead for good at 69-68. Terez Holmes pushed the lead to nine with a three-point play with 2:57 remaining, but Lee pulled within 88-86 on Jaden Nickens' three-point play with 23 seconds left. Blake Rucker went 4-for-4 at the free-throw line in the final 21 seconds to seal the win.
Williams shot 8-of-11 from the field and 10-of-11 at the line, setting a career high for the second straight game to open his sophomore season. Holmes scored all 14 of his points after halftime and grabbed a game-high 13 rebounds for his second straight double-double. The sophomore transfer also blocked two shots.
Keletigui Kane hit four 3-pointers on his way to 13 points off the bench. Rucker finished with 12 points, and Ryder Bush added seven rebounds and five assists.
Barton went 12-of-28 from beyond the arc, including 9-of-16 in the first half, while holding Lee to 7-of-33 from long range.
Nickens led the Navigators with 26 points, followed by Connor Sprattley with 23 and Kebari Lewis with 18.