By BRANDON SMITH
Barton Sports Info
The top ranked Barton Community College men's basketball team overcame a ten-point first half deficit before holding on late Friday afternoon earning a 79-76 victory over No. 24 Butler Community College in the Region VI Semifinals held at the Hutchinson Sports Arena.
Trailing by ten midway through first half action, the Cougars sliced the deficit to five into the halftime break before surging to a 43-all tie behind a 7-0 run with eighteen minutes left in the final frame.
Following mini surges from each team, Butler would again put the Cougars on the heels with seven straight, later pushing the margin to eight with 8:19 remaining.
Putting the Cougars on his back, Lajae Jones' personal 10-0 run ignited Barton's decisive 16-2 stretch in a three minute span to build a seven-point advantage with 3:30 remaining.
A canned Butler triple and a Barton dead-ball foul two seconds later cut the deficit to two with 2:27 left, again with 1:55 remaining, and shrinking to one on with 30 seconds left.
Following a Cooper Jackson perfect pair of charity tosses, the Cougars fouled with eight seconds left to prevent a potential game tying triple. Butler went 1-of-2 on the trip with Brent Moss securing the rebound and sent to the line but left the door ajar in also going 1-of-2 from the line.
The Cougar defense put the clamps on for the inbounds, forcing a pair of deflections leaving Butler just .8 seconds. Needing essentially a catch and shoot mid-air, the Grizzlies got off a good-look deep shot that banged hard off the rim as time expired.
Advancing into the Region VI Championship for the second straight year, Barton extends its winning streak to 22-straight and moves to 31-1 on the year while Butler concludes the season at 23-9 overall.
The top ranked Cougars will meet 3rd seeded and 16th ranked Hutchinson Community College (27-5) for the third time this season in Saturday's 5:00 p.m. title game as Barton hunts for its first region crown since 2001.
Butler came out shooting a sizzling 54.2% over the opening fourteen minutes while grabbing their biggest lead of ten, 29-19 at the 9:25 mark.
Despite shooting 37.5% in the opening twenty minutes, Barton managed to cut the deficit to five at the break closing the opening half on a 6-2 run.
Following Butler's opening bucket just thirty-six seconds into the second half, the Cougar defensive pressure ramped up creating six of their 12 second half turnovers forced keying an 11-2 run in the opening 4:01 with Jones four straight handing Barton its' first lead since the 17:21 mark of the first half.
The Grizzlies stretched the lead back out to six behind a 10-2 run and preserved it until the 5:52 mark when Jones third straight bucket followed by a corner trey in front of the Cougar bench capped the 10-0 personal run provided Barton the advantage over the remaining 5:16.
Capping the pivotal 16-2 stretch with its largest lead coming at seven with 3:30 left following a pair of Myles Thompson buckets mixed between a pair of Mozae Downing-Rivers, Barton would withstand another 5-0 Butler run and last second heave with just under a second left.
Four Cougars reached double figure scoring led by Jones game high 23 points and 10 rebound performance for the sophomore's 13th double-double of the season.
Downing-Rivers keyed the Barton offense finishing with his second straight double-double, dishing out 10 of the Cougars' 16 assists and adding 10 points and game high 5 steals.
Providing two key baskets in the pivotal stretch, Thompson finished with 17 points on 8-of-14 shooting while Cooper Jackson rounded out the double figure scoring with 12 points and two steals none bigger than his steal and bucket with 2:10 remaining to hold the lead at four.
Christian Richardson led four Grizzlies in double-figures finishing with 18 points helping Butler to a plus 15-point bench production. Jamichael Stillwell added 16 points with eight rebounds while Jason 'Deuce' Drake and Kaleb Washington each finishing with 12 points as the duo combined for five of the 11 made three-pointers.