The 20th ranked Barton Community College men’s basketball team was unable to recover from an early deficit Saturday afternoon at Fleske Fieldhouse, falling 111–95 to Garden City Community College in Jayhawk Conference action.
Garden City scored the opening nine points, stretching their lead into double digits with another seven point spurt where it would stay the rest of the afternoon. The Cougars would cut the deficit to ten once but the Broncbusters held steady in building a 27-point margin in cruising to its largest output of the 117 series’ meetings.
The second straight loss sends Barton to the holiday break at 4–4 in conference play and 9–5 on the season while Garden City snaps the Cougars’ six-game series win streak improving to 4-3 in league and 9-4 overall. The Cougars next action comes January 3rd in hosting 18th ranked Butler Community College.
Career high performances highlighted the Cougars’ afternoon, Sebastian Muchitsch on top with 19 points as Jon Byrd recorded highs of 17 points, 8 assists, and 3 steals. Aris Rodriguez tied team high honors with 19 points, Noah Williams added 12 points and 8 rebounds, and Lazare Mbala came off the bench connecting on 3-of-5 from deep for a new career best 12 points.
The Broncbusters also received a career high day from Zaire Lott, coming off the bench to bury 4 of Garden City’s 12 three-pointers for 35 points and 8 rebounds, five coming from the offensive glass. Dasean Lewis and Devonte Reed each added 18 points with Jordan Nevill contributing 14 points and Xavier Johnson bringing 11 points and 9 rebounds off the bench.
