GREAT BEND, Kan. (BartonSports.com) – One glaring stat difference and a last second offensive putback Saturday night at the Barton Gym sent the 6th ranked Barton Community College men’s basketball team to its third straight loss in falling 85-83 to Pratt Community College.
Dropping seven behind the arc for a six-point edge at the halftime break, Pratt connected six more times in second half play for a 40.6% shooting night from long distance in outscoring Barton by 27 points.
Despite getting outscored by the long range shooting, the Cougars fought back from a 19-point second half deficit to lead by three with just under two minutes to play. The lead would flip twice more including on the Beavers’ 13th arc buster with 37 seconds left but Brent Moss offensive rebound and tough putback tied it back up with 16.1 ticks remaining.
Needing one more defensive stop, the Cougars were on the verge of delivering it but Ajiet Akota secured his lone offensive rebound putting the game winner through the hoop with 1.5 seconds left.
Dropping three straight for the first time since December of 2021, Barton falls to 3-3 in conference play and 8-3 overall while Pratt improves to 2-3 in league and 6-5 on the season.
Barton will next embark on a two-game road trip before the holiday break beginning on Wednesday for a 7:30 p.m. tip at Seward County Community College followed by Saturday’s 3:00 p.m. tip at Dodge City Community College.
Moss assembled his fourth double-double of the year leading all players in the contest, tying his career high of 27 points and hauling half of his career best 16 rebounds on the offensive glass.
Keandre Kindell added 13 points and a team leading 6 assists against just one turnover with Aris Rodriguez also contributing 13 points and a game high 4 steals in coming off the bench.
In the starting lineup for the first time, James Parlow, Jr. added a career high 10 points with 3 rebounds and 2 assists as Modibo Sanogo‘s 10 points and 9 rebounds helped Barton to a plus-seven advantage on the glass leading to a ten-point edge in second chance points and an eighteen point differential in the paint.
Held to just two second half points, Jarrett Dingle led the Beavers with a 22-point outing on 4-of-7 three-point shooting with Khasen Robinson draining 3-of-5 for 21 points. Hunter Vaughn added four more treys towards the Beavers’ total for 17 points and a team leading 7 assists as Joseph Opareke recorded a double-double 11-point, 12-rebound performance.
Barton shot 39.7% on the night including a season second worst 18.2% (4-of-22) from behind the arc with Pratt finishing at 42.6% overall with 13-of-32 coming from long distance. Both teams shot well from the stripe, Barton 21-of-25 (84.0%) with Pratt sinking 20-of-24 (83.3%).
