Barton holds off Tigers 75-73 in a battle of top-10 teams

In a highly anticipated matchup of top-10 teams, the No. 3-ranked Barton Cougars avenged its lone defeat of the season with a 75-73 victory over the No. 10-ranked Cowley College men's basketball team Saturday inside a raucous W.S. Scott Auditorium.

The win was the 12^th straight for the Cougars, as they are now 21-1 overall and 15-1 in the Jayhawk Conference. Cowley (19-3) is now in second place in the conference with a record of 14-2.

On Saturday, Barton closed the first half on a 14-0 run to lead 38-27. Ring Malith, a 6'9" sophomore from Sudan, scored 16 of his 18 points in the opening half.

After shooting only 34 percent in the first half, Cowley started to find the range after halftime and used a 10-0 run, capped by an alley-oop dunk by Avante Nichols, to tie the score at 52-52 midway through the second half.

Cowley would grab its first lead since four minutes remained in the first half when sophomore Corey Thomas scored on a putback to give the Tigers a 60-58 lead with 5:41 left to play.

However, Barton responded by scoring 10 straight points to lead 68-60 following a basket by Myles Thompson with 3:25 remaining.

Cowley tried frantically to rally and pulled within 71-70 following a basket by Nichols with 26.5 seconds left. Forced to foul, the Tigers sent Barton's Brent Moss to the foul line with 25.5 seconds remaining. Moss would hit both free-throw attempts to put the Cougars up 73-70.

Instead of attempting a tying three-pointer, Cowley tried to get a quick two-point basket, but Leslie Owens shot inside was off the mark, and the Tigers were forced to foul Barton's Lajae Jones, who made both free throws to put the Cougars up 75-70 with 5.4 seconds left.

Cowley's Arzhonte Dallas hit a three-pointer with 1 second remaining, but it was not enough as Barton held on for the two-point road win.

"Barton was the more physical team," Cowley head coach Donnie Jackson said. "They beat us in all the tough areas. Credit to them."

Jones finished with 17 points and 13 rebounds, while Moss added 14 points and six boards.

Dallas led Cowley with 20 points, and Corey Thomas added nine points and 17 rebounds.

"There is still a lot of basketball still to be played," Jackson said. "We can't let one loss turn into two. We have to learn from our mistakes and bounce back."

Cowley will play at Garden City on Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. The Broncbusters (15-7) have won four games in a row to move into fifth place in the Jayhawk Conference with a record of 11-5. Garden City is led by guards Braxton Jones (21.9 points per game) and Brody Robinson (20.2 points per game).

"Garden is playing at a high level and is trending up," Jackson said. "They have the best offensive scoring backcourt in the league, so we will need to be ready to guard."

Box score:

Barton (75): Ring Malith 7-14 2-4 18, Mozae Downing-Rivers 1-6 1-2 3, Myles Thompson 4-15 2-5 10, Cooper Jackson 2-7 1-1 5, Lajae Jones 3-12 9-11 17, Keandre Kindell 1-1 0-0 3, Brent Moss 6-9 2-2 14, Amiri Ndayisaba 2-3 0-0 5. Totals: 26-67 17-25 75.

Cowley (73): Jeff Nwankwo 3-10 0-1 6, Arzhonte Dallas 8-17 0-0 20, Damare Smith 3-10 1-2 9, Leslie Owens 3-6 5-5 11, Corey Thomas 2-7 5-6 9, Shamarrie Hugie 2-4 0-0 6, Avante Nichols 4-5 0-0 8, Marcus Zeigler 2-6 0-0 4, Faustin Phanor 0-0 0-0 0. Totals: 27-65 11-14 73.

Three-pointers: Barton 6-16 (Malith 2-7, Jones 2-3, Ndayisaba 1-2, Kindell 1-1, Downing-Rivers 0-1, Thompson 0-1, Jackson 0-1), Cowley 8-26 (Dallas 4-8, Smith 2-7, Hugie 2-3, Nwankwo 0-4, Thomas 0-2, Zeigler 0-2). Rebounds: Barton 39 (Jones 13), Cowley 38 (Thomas 17). Assists: Barton 8 (Jackson 3), Cowley 13 (Thomas 3). Turnovers: Barton 14, Cowley 14. Total fouls: Barton 16, Cowley 21. Fouled out: Nwankwo, Thomas. Technicals: none.