Unbeaten Barton rallies to down MCC men, 77-65

REAT BEND, Kan. – For the second straight game the McCook Community College men’s basketball team dropped a game to a ranked Kansas opponent losing to No. 25 Barton Community College Saturday 77-65. The loss came in the Barton Booster Club Classic.

“Seems like tonight was the same story about not being able to put two halves together,” said MCC Coach Jacob Brandl. MCC lost to No. 15 Hutchinson Friday 88-61.

MCC took a six-point lead 6:31 into the game Saturday and led at the half 34-30, thanks in part to 15 points from the 3-point line (five-for-15). MCC couldn’t continue the momentum in the second half and Barton County turned things around in their home gym.

“That has been an issue for us all year,” Brandl said. “I really thought we played hard and battled. I also thought we were good on our scouting report and executing our plan for about 30 minutes of that game.”

After edging MCC in field goal percent in the first half 44.0-40.0 percent, the Cougars heated up in the second half shooting 55.2 percent and cooling MCC off to 32.3 percent from the field. Much of the Barton scoring success came from the paint where they outscored MCC 46-12.

“At the end of the day we didn’t handle their run and make shots and plays when we needed to,” Brandl said.

The 25th-ranked Cougars improve to 6-0 on the season.

DaMiene Boles Jr. (Dayton, Ohio) led MCC with 14 points. Julian Lual (Calgary, Alberta) and Damien Perry (Wareham, Mass.) both scored 10 points. Lual led MCC on the boards with eight and Perry collected six.

MCC got some 3-point help off the bench as Trey Summers (Greeley, Colo.) made three-of-four 3-pointers to finish with nine points and D'Andre Dennis (Charlotte, N.C.) was two of four .

“We have guys that are battling,” Brandl said. “We just have to learn how to put a full game together and limit our mistakes, when we get that figured out we will be a very, very good basketball team.”

MCC falls to 1-5 on the season and returns home Tuesday for the final home game of the semester taking on 4-1 Dodge City at 7 p.m. On Friday MCC travels to Ottumwa, Iowa for the Indian Hills Classic to take on Indian Hills at 7 p.m., then face North Central Missouri College at 4:30 p.m. Saturday.