The No. 16 ranked Barton Cougar men's basketball team held the lead for the final 32 minutes Wednesday to hold off Colby Community College 78-74.
Barton (22-6, 16-6 Jayhawk) heads to Independence Saturday and plays at Coffeyville next Wednesday with likely NJCAA tournament at-large bid implications on the line.
Aris Rodriguez had one of his better all-around performances of the year by recording a career high 7 steals and 6 rebounds towards an 18-point outing.
Eltramon Smith, Jr. led all players with a career high 20 points as the league's best three-point shooter drained 3-of-4 behind the arc, hauling down 9 rebounds in just missing his first career double-double for the second time of the year.
Keandre Kindell sparked the guard play with 16 points and a game high 6 assists with Moss adding a 9-point, 9-rebound stat line.
Barton unleashed a 13-2 second half stretch to grow its advantage to as many as 17 points with 11:25 remaining but the Trojans answered with its own 14-2 run making the contest interesting for the final six minutes.
Successful trips to the free throw line by Kindell and Rodriguez pushed the gap to nine with Colby responding by continuing to chip away cutting the deficit to just three.
Brent Moss' 7th offensive rebound and putback made it a two-possession lead with 36 seconds left only to have a Trojan three-pointer drawing back to within two points. Rodriguez' pair of charity tosses with 9 seconds remaining provided the final margin seal the Cougars' 10th straight win of the series.
Colby (16-13, 11-13 Jayhawk) was led by Eternity Eguagie's 18 points and Raphael Nagau-Trouar's 18 points with 9 rebounds led Colby with Gaius Meoowuru M'Ellia contributing 13 points.
Colby 34 40 — 74
Barton 39 39 — 78
COLBY (16-13, 11-12) (FG 3 FT TP)—Nagau-Trouart 9-14 (0-1) 0-0 18, Egagie 6-10 (0-1) 6-10 18, Cason 3-5 (3-3) 0-0 9, Muhammad 3-8 (2-6) 0-0 8, Massadila 2-7 (2-4) 0-0 6, Watkins 0-1 0-0 0, Keutcha 1-2 0-0 2, Totals 28-58 (7-16) 11-16 74
BARTON (22-6, 16-6) (FG 3 FT TP)—Smith 6-12 (3-4) 5-9, 20, Rodriguez 6-15 (2-10) 4-4 18, Kindell 5-9 (3-3) 3-3 16, Moss 4-8 (0-1) 1-4 9, Williams 2-9 (0-4) 2-3 6, Brooks (1-$ 0-0 3, Muchitsch 2-3 (2-2) 0-0 6, Totals 26-60 (11-28) 15-23 78
Rebounds—Colby 38 (Nagau-Trouart 9); BC 31 (Smith 9, Moss 9). Assists—Colby 16 (Muhammad 4); BC 15 (Kindell 6). Steals—Colby 8 (Nagau-Touart 3, Muhammad 3), BC 14 (Rodriguez 7).
JAYHAWK MEN
Cowley 21-2 26-3
Coffeyville 17-5 21-7
Barton 16-6 22-6
Butler 14-8 19-9
Hutchinson 14-8 18-10
Colby 11-12 16-13
Garden City 20-12 15-13
Hays Northwest 10-12 13-14
Dodge City 9-13 12-16
Independence 8-14 12-16
Pratt 7-15 11-17
Cloud 5-17 11-17
Seward 2-20 3-24
2-17—Coffeyville 74, Cloud 67; Hays NW 90, Pratt 86
2-19—Cowley 87, Hutchinson 71; Pratt 112, Independence 96; Hays NW 87, Dodge City 84
2-20—Colby 57, Seward 46; Coffeyville 83, Butler 60; Garden City 70, Cloud 65
2-22—Hays NW 99, Barton 92; Cowley 76, Garden City 69; Hutchinson 64, Butler 63; Coffeyville 70, Pratt 68; Dodge City 88, Colby 73; Independence 74, Seward 64
2-26—Barton 78, Colby 74; Butler 86, Garden City 59; Coffeyville 74, Seward 58; Dodge City 81, Independence 76; Cowley 83, Cloud 58; Hutchinson 65, Pratt 59
3-1—Barton at Independence 4, Coffeyville at Dodge City; Hutchinson at Seward; Butler at Cloud; Pratt at Garden City; Hays NW at Colby
