No. 2 Barton Community College delivered second-half adjustments for a 93-74 victory over North Platte, Neb. Tuesday at the Kirkman Center.
Keandre Kindell leading the squad with a stat stuffing 21 points, 7 rebounds, 6 assists, and 5 steals. Fontaine Williams scored 18 points with 3-of-5 three-point shooting. Pavel Ivanov's perfect three long distance shooting delivered 13 points that keyed a plus-22 point advantage in bench scoring
Aris Rodriguez also contributed 13 points on 3-of-7 arc busting shots as Modibo Sanogo worked inside for 12 points and 8 rebounds. Brent Moss led the Cougars to a plus-5 edge on the boards with a game high 13 rebounds while adding 6 points and distributing a team second best 4 assists.
Justus Michael's 21 points led the Knights with 4-of-6 three-point shooting. Mo Diao added 18 points with 7 rebounds and team high 3 steals, Alex Harper's 3-of-7 led to 12 points, and Trey Summers knocked down a pair of treys towards a 10 point night with a team leading 4 assists. Daniel Nwauzu led in rebounding with 10.
The Cougars doubled a 6-point halftime lead with a 6-point edge in the first three minutes.
North Platte connected on 8-of-13 from long distance in the first half and 3-of-11 after halftime with 11 turnovers.
The Cougars meanwhile were solid from beyond the arc at 44% (11-of-25), cutting down its miscues to just four in the second half, and controlled the paint for a plus-12 point advantage and an even larger plus-16 in points off turnovers.
The Cougars (3-0) play the Best Western/Booster Club Classic against Northern Oklahoma-Enid Friday and Harry S. Truman, Ill. Saturday. The Cougar women play at 5:30 p.m. against Redlands, Okla. and Kansas Wesleyan JV Saturday.
Hutchinson's NJCAA women's national champions and NJCAA men's qualifier Hutchinson play at 1 and 3 p.m. Friday and Saturday.
NORTH PLATTE (1-4)—Michael 8-18 1-2 21; Diao 8-18 2-4 18; Harper 3-13 3-6 12; Summers 4-7 0-0 10, King 1-3 0-0 2, Alinsky 1-3 0-0 3, Occeus 2-2 0-0 5, Nwauzu 1-5 1-2 3, Totals 28-69 7-14 74.
BARTON (3-0)—Kindell 7-15 6-6 21; Williams 7-13 1-4 18; Ivanov 5-5 0-1 13; Rodriguez 4-9 2-2 13; Sanogo 4-10 4-4 12, Muchitsch 2-5 0-0 4, Moss 3-14 0-0 6; Smith 1-2 2-3 5, Parlow 0-1 0-0 0, Coombs 0-1 0-0 0, Totals 33-75 93.
Halftime—BC 46, NP 40. 3-pointers—NP 11-24 (Michael 4-6, Harper 3-7, Summers 2-4, Occeus 1-1, Alinsky 1-3, Nwauzu 0-1, Diao 0-2); BC 11-25 (Ivanov 3-3, Williams 3-5, Rodriguez 3-7, Smith 1-1, Kindlel 1-4, Coombs 0-1, Muchitsch 0-1, Parlow 0-1, Moss 0-2). Rebounds—NP 42 (Nwauzu 10); BC 47 (Moss 12). Assists—NP 11 (Summers 4); BC 18 (Kindell 6). Steals—NP 4 (Diao 3); BC 9 (Kindell 5).