COFFEYVILLE — The No. 14 Barton Cougar men's basketball team couldn't get over the hump Wednesday night in falling 89-85 at 21st ranked Coffeyville Community College.
The Cougars (23-7, 17-7 Jayhawk) finish third while Coffeyville (22-8,18-6 Jayhawk) places runner-up. The Cougars meet the Colby/Cloud winner March 11.
Brent Moss grabbed 12 of the Cougars' 28 total rebounds for game high honors, also leading the squad with 19 points and 2 blocks in posting his 15th double-double performance of the season.
Aris Rodriguez and Eltramon Smith, Jr. each added 16 points on a combined 2-of-3 three-point shooting with Sebastian Muchitsch adding 12 points.
Keandre Kindell led all players with 8 assists and 4 steals while adding 13 points including a long three-pointer late drawing the Cougars to within one with under a minute to play.
Leading by as many as five points in first half action, the Cougars' final lead would come midway through opening frame as an 11-2 stretch put the Red Ravens in front for good.
Barton hung around the coop throughout the game, but clutch Red Raven shots, including a trio of second-half fade-away jumpers, kept Coffeyville on top of the scoreboard snapping the Cougars' five-game win streak in the series.
Despite Barton's 50.8% field goal shooting outperforming Coffeyville's 47.6% connections, the Red Ravens made up the difference on the glass outrebounding the Cougars by eight including 11 offensive rebounds resulting in a fourteen point difference in second chance points.
On the ensuing possession, Coffeyville's Trenton Ruth just beat the shot clock providing the Red Ravens' final heroic play by knocking down a long two-point, fade-away demoralizer pushing the gap back to three with twenty-five seconds remaining.
The Cougars came up empty on their possession resulting in Abdul Kuta's 1-of-2 trip to the line with eleven seconds left making it a two-possession game completing the Red Ravens' 22-of-24 performance from the charity stripe.
Rodriguez' short jumper just a few seconds later cut the margin back to two but Coffeyville broke the Cougars' pressure leading to a last second lay-in for the final four point victory.
Ruth led all five Coffeyville starters in double-figures with a game high 22 points including draining 4-of-8 from beyond the arc. Brian Griffith added 20 points with Justin Tayor and Daniel Ntambwe each adding 12 points and Kuto contributed 10
Barton 36 49—85
Coffeyville 42 47—89
BARTON (23-7, 17-7) (FG 3 FT TP)—Moss 7-11 5-6 19, Rodriguez 6-7 (1-2) 3-4 16, Smith 6-9 (1-1) 3-3 16, Kindell 4-17 (2-9) 3-3 13, Muhchitesch 3-6 6-8 12, Williams 3-7 (0-3) 0-0 6, Brooks 0-1 1-2 1, N'Gombo 1-1 0-0 2, Totals 30-59 (4-15) 21-26 85
COFFEYVILLE (22-8, 18-6) (FG 3 FT TP)—Ruth 7-16 (4-8) 404 22, Griffith 6-10 (1-3) 7-8 20, Taylor 5-10 (2-4) 0-0 12, Ntambwe 5-11 (0-1) 2-2 12, Kuta 4-5 2-3 10, Smith 0-1 2-2 2, Nagulic 2-4 2-2 6, Poovic (0-3) 2-2 3, Caporaso 1-3 0-0 2, Totals 30-63 (7-18) 22-24 89
Rebounds—BC 28 (Moss 12); C 36 (Nagulic 7, Ntambwe 7). Assists—BC 14 (Kindell 8); C 8 (Griffith 4). Steals—BC 6 (Kindell 4); C 4 (four with 1)
JAYHAWK MEN
Cowley 21-3 26-4
Barton 17-7 23-7
Coffeyville 18-6 22-8
Hutchinson 15-9 19-11
Butler 15-9 20-10
Colby 12-12 17-13
Garden City 12-12 17-13
Hays Northwest 11-13 14-15
Dodge City 11-13 14-16
Independence 8-16 12-18
Cloud 7-17 13-17
Pratt 7-17 11-19
Seward 2-22 3-26
3-5—Coffeyville 89, Barton 85; Hays NW 93, Independence 90; Dodge City 76, Hutchinson 66; Garden City 75, Seward 65; Butler 72, Cowley 69; Cloud 80. Pratt 79
3-8—No. 5 Butler vs. No. 12 Pratt; No. 6 Colby vs. No. 11 Cloud; No. 7 Garden City vs. No. 10 Independence; No. 8 Hays NW vs. No. 9 Dodge City
3-11—No. 1 Cowley vs. Hays NW/Dodge City winner; No. 4 Hutchinson vs. Butler/Pratt winner; No. 2 Coffeyville s. Garden City/Independence winner; No. 3 Barton vs. Colby/Cloud winner, 7 p.m.
