Barton slips past Cowley 75-70

The Cowley College men's basketball team continues to give themselves a chance to win but still find road victories hard to come by following a 75-70 loss at Barton County on Saturday.

On Saturday, Cowley led 26-13 midway through the first half and took a 40-32 lead into the halftime intermission thanks to 15 first-half points by Mekhi Cameron.

Unfortunately, Cameron was held scoreless in the second half and Barton County regained the lead at 49-48 following a three-pointer by Myles Thompson with 12:06 left to play.

Cowley would go on to trail by as many as nine points (65-56) with just under five minutes remaining. However, the Tigers would score 10 straight points to lead 66-65 after a three-pointer by Xavier Valley with 1:36 left in the game.

Barton sophomore Cougar Downing, who led all scorers with 23 points, would bury a long three-pointer on the Cougar's next possession as Barton went back on top with just over a minute left.

Barton would get another three-pointer by Hannes Saar on its next possession and held on for the five-point win.

"Both teams competed hard, unfortunately we could not get the stops we needed down the stretch," Cowley head coach Donnie Jackson said. "We are getting closer, but there are no moral victories this time of year."

Barton out-rebounded Cowley 49-26 as they improved its record to 11-8 overall and 5-8 in the Jayhawk Conference.

"Their guys wanted the ball more than we did," Jackson said.

Valley joined Cameron in double figures with 13 points, but Cowley sophomores Raishaun Brown and Clarence King combined to make only 4-of-22 shots from the floor.

A bright spot in the loss was the play of freshmen Christian Williams and Trevion Alexander, who combined to make 5-of-7 shot attempts and contribute 13 points off the bench.

The loss drops Cowley's record to 1-6 on the road as they are now 10-9 overall and 6-7 in the Jayhawk Conference. The Tigers will get another chance at a road victory when they play at No. 25-ranked Butler Monday at 7 p.m. The Grizzlies (14-5) are tied for third place in the conference with a record of 8-5.

"We have got to find a way to get a road win and hand Butler its first home loss of the season," Jackson said.

Box score:

Cowley (70): Raishaun Brown 2-12 1-2 5, Mekhi Cameron 6-11 0-0 15, Clarence King 2-10 6-10 10, Xavier Valley 5-8 0-0 13, Kennedy Willis 4-6 0-0 8, Xavier Washington 0-3 2-2 2, Emmanuel Austin 1-2 2-4 4, Christian Williams 3-5 0-0 9, Trevion Alexander 2-2 0-0 4, Chris Spenkuch 0-0 0-1 0, KJ Spiller 0-0 0-0 0. Totals: 25-59 11-19 70.

Barton (75): Cougar Downing 9-16 3-4 23, Hannes Saar 1-3 2-2 5, Trey Bates 4-13 0-0 9, Joseph Locandro 4-7 6-8 14, Myles Thompson 3-7 1-4 8, Trey Rolfs 0-3 2-2 2, Walker Moore 0-0 0-0 0, Keith Robinson 3-6 3-4 11, Josh Jordan 0-1 0-0 0, Modibo Sanogo 0-1 3-6 3. Totals: 24-57 20-30 75.

Three-pointers: Cowley 9-31 (Cameron 3-6, Valley 3-6, Williams 3-5, Brown 0-8, King 0-3, Washington 0-2, Austin 0-1), Barton 7-16 (Downing 2-5, Robinson 2-5, Bates 1-4, Saar 1-1, Thompson 1-1). Rebounds: Cowley 26 (Brown, Valley, Washington, Spenkuch 4), Barton 49 (Locandro 10). Assists: Cowley 12 (Brown 4), Barton 10 (Bates 4). Turnovers: Cowley 11, Barton 18. Total fouls: Cowley 24, Barton 21. Fouled out: none. Technicals: none.