HAYS — The No. 14 ranked Barton Cougars, the defending NJCAA champions, are virtually assured of an NJCAA Tournament berth after downing Jayhawk League runner-up No. 21 ranked Coffeyville 89-74 in Friday's Region 6 basketball semifinal.
The Cougars win the season series with Coffeyville 2-1 and qualify for Saturday's Region 6 championship game against No. 5 ranked Cowley College (29-4) at Fort Hays State's Gross Memorial Coliseum. The Cougars split with Coffeyville during the season with a 75-64 victory and an 89-85 setback to the Red Ravens.
Cowley clinched an automatic NJCAA berth with a 72-62 championship victory while the Cougars (25-8) are a virtual lock for an NJCAA invitation which will be announced at 6 p.m. Sunday.
Barton's Williams and Keandre Kindell each scored 25 points to spark the Cougars, who shot 50% from the field (32-64). Eltramon Smith, Jr. added 15 points.
Coffeyville's Griffith scored 28 points, but converted 9 of 25 field goals, 7 of 19 from long range.
The Cougars led 42-21 at halftime, but continued a season-long trend of ineffective second-half defense. Coffeyville scored 53 second-half points. The Cougars have endured multiple second halves of yielding 60-plus points.
Trailing early 7-2, Barton found its stride putting together a 24-1 stretch and never cooled down in doubling up the Red Ravens 42-21 at the halftime break. Guards Keandre Kindell and Fontaine Williams sparked the action with Kindell getting inside penetration for 15 first half points as Williams was doing damage from the outside knocking down 4-of-4 beyond the arc for 18 points.
The Cougars stretched their lead to 27 points with just under thirteen minutes to play before going into cruise control as Coffeyville's Brian Griffiths did damage to the margin draining 7 second half three-pointers including three in a 40 second span in the waning 90 seconds.
Kindell and Williams each finished with 25 points, combining for 6 assists and 3 steals.
Eltramon Smith, Jr. scored all but two of his 15 points in catching second half fire and grabbed 5 rebounds. Saddled with foul problems, Brent Moss finished with 9 points and a team high 7 rebounds, Sebastian Muchitsch contributed 6 points including a ferocious baseline dunk, and Pavel Ivanov added two points on an acrobatic horizontal shot.
Coffeyville's Griffith's led all players with 28 points in part to 7-of-19 shooting behind the arc. Justin Tayor and Daniel Ntambwe each added 13 points with Abdul Kuta' 10 rebounds helping the Red Ravens to a plus-8
Barton 42 47—89
Coffeyville 21 53—74
BARTON (25-7) (FG 3 FT TP)—Williams 9-11 (5-5) 2-2 25, Kindell 9-15 7-8 25, Smith 5-7 (1-3) 4-4 15, Muchitsch 3-8 (0-3) 0-0 6, Rodriguez 3-11 (0-3) 1-2 7, Moss 2-7 5-6 9, Ivanov 1-2 0-1 2, N'Gombo 0-2 0-0 0, Brooks (0-1) 0-0 0, Totals 32-64 (6-15) 19-23 89
COFFEYVILLE (23-9) (FG 3 FT TP)—Griffith 9-25 (7-19) 3-5 28, Ruth 2-9 (1-6) 1-1 6, Taylor 6-12 (1-3) 0-2 13, Ntambwe 4-5 5-7 13, Kuta 3-8 2-2 8, Ngulic 0-2 0-0 0, Thompson 2-3 (0-1) 0-0 4, Caporaso 0-0 2-2 2, Totals 26-64 (9-29) 13-19 74
Rebounds—BC 32 (Moss 7), C 40 (Kuta 10). Assists—BC 9 (Kindell 4), C 9 (Taylor 3). Steals—BC 11 (Rodriguez 4), C 5 (Taylor 2)
JAYHAWK MEN
Cowley 21-3 29-4
Coffeyville 18-6 23-9
Barton 17-7 25-8
Hutchinson 15-9 19-12
Butler 15-9 22-11
Colby 12-12 18-14
Garden City 12-12 18-14
Hays Northwest 11-13 14-16
Dodge City 11-13 15-17
Independence 8-16 12-19
Cloud 7-17 14-18
Pratt 7-17 11-20
Seward 2-22 3-26
REGION 6 MEN
FIRST ROUND-—Dodge City 96, Fort Hays Tech Northwest 82; Butler 95, Pratt 78; Cloud County 85, Colby 83; Garden City 88, Independence 86 (OT)
QUARTERFINALS—Cowley 87, Dodge City 74; Butler 74, Hutchinson 73; Barton 100, Cloud County 87; Coffeyville 80, Garden City 67
SEMIFINALS, HAYS —Cowley 58, Butler 54; Barton 89, Coffeyville 74
3-15 FINALS HAYS—Cowley 72, Barton 62
