Box Score DODGE CITY, Kan. -- The Dodge City Community College men's basketball team completed an impressive week by pulling away in the second half to beat KJCCC-leading Barton 66-56 on Saturday afternoon at the Dodge City Civic Center - just days after upending No. 8 Hutchinson on the road.
The Conqs (14-5, 5-3), who have won four straight overall, took advantage of 20 Barton (14-5, 6-2) turnovers and scored 24 points off of those - including 13 in the second half on their way to outscoring the Cougars 37-30.
"Again, it was a tale of two halves," DC3 coach
Kyle Campbell said. "We just maintained and didn't do anything great in the first half. We found a way to win ugly."
The Conqs held a 29-26 advantage going into the second half - which turned out to be its smallest lead of the final 20 minutes as buckets by
Josh Boutte and and
Jamil Hood gave the Conqs a 33-26 lead. A pair of free throws by Hood later in the half pushed the lead to double figures at 51-40 with 15:09 remaining.
Barton cut the DC3 lead down to four with 4:44 remaining before
Jamie Rutherford hit a key 3-pointer on the Conqs' next possession to increase the advantage to 59-52. The Cougars wouldn't get closer than that the rest of the game.
A difference in the contest was the Conqs' ability to get to the free-throw line. While Barton was called for only three more fouls than DC3, the Conqs got to the line 27 times (making 16) while the Cougars went 4-for-10 from the charity stripe.
James Newton led the Conqs with 18 points (including going 4-for-9 from 3-point range) to go along with a team-high six steals, three assists and a pair of rebounds. Boutte had a solid game, going for 17 points, 10 rebounds and three blocks while Hood finished with 11 points, four steals, three rebounds and two assists.
Lorenzo Dillard had a game-high eight assists as well for the Conqs.
Ezekial Charles led Barton with 13 points to go along with six rebounds.
The Conqs sit a game behind Neosho and Barton for first place in the conference.
Dodge City hosts Garden City 8 p.m. Wednesday.
