GREAT BEND, Kan. – The Dodge City Community College men's basketball team saw their early lead disappear just over four minutes into the game and could never recover in a 87-67 setback at Barton Community College on Saturday, February 11^th.

In a game featuring the No. 2 and No. 3 teams in the Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference, the Conquistadors were unable to complete a season sweep of the Cougars, falling to 17-8 overall and 14-7 in conference play. Barton improved to 16-5 in the KJCCC to take a two-game lead over the Conquistadors while moving to 20-5 overall.

Dodge City would open the game up and quickly take a 6-2 lead on two treys by Mike Jones and maintain their lead for the opening four minutes of the game. Barton would take their first lead of the game at 11-9 with 15:29 left in the first half and then go on a 9-0 run over the next 4:40 take to take a 20-11 lead. DC3 would respond with a quick 7-2 run capped by a Kourtney ware three to put the score of 22-18 with 8:17 left in the first half. The Conquistadors would be unable to capitalize on the run as Barton would again push their lead back out to 11 points on two separate occasions with the second time coming with 2:47 left to play in the first half and DC3 on the ropes. Things would not get any worse for the Conquistadors, as a Trey Grundy III hoop and the free throw and Jones layup would allow Dodge City to get within eight at 36-28 at the half.

The cold shooting trend would continue for Dodge City in the second half as Barton would score the first eight points of the second half to push their lead to 44-28 just 2:01 into the second half as the Conqs would open up just three of 18 from the field in the opening 10 minutes of the second half. Despite holding an 18-15 lead on the boards in the first half, the Cougars would be all over Dodge City in the second half by pulling in 19 of the first 23 rebounds in the second half. Barton would take their largest lead of the game at 65-37 with 9:44 left in the game as DC3 could not find an answer for the Cougars shooting with BCC maintaining their 20-plus point lead for the next several minutes. The Conquistadors would slowly chip away at the Cougar lead thanks in part to the free throw line after getting into the bonus early on in the second half. DC3 would get as close as 12 on a pair of Mario Ponds triples with 1:54 left in the game, but Barton would put the final nail in the coffin by ending the game on a 10-2 run to pull out the convincing 20-point victory.

Final statistics would show Dodge City outscoring Barton 36-32 in bench points despite shooting just 21 of 66 (31.8%) from the field. The Cougars would shoot 50.9 percent (27-53) in the game and hit nine of 19 triples (47.4%) compared to a seven of 28 (25%) output from the Conquistadors. Barton out-rebounded Dodge City 44-35 and held a 16-11 advantage in points off of turnovers.

Kourtney Ware would be one of only two DC3 players in double-figures, finishing with 11 points while Jones would have 10 points and two rebounds. Grundy III and Ponds each finished with nine points. The Cougars were led by a game high 26 points off the bench from Noah Webster who went six of eight from beyond the arc.

Another chance at a season series sweep is next in store for the Conquistadors as Dodge City will play host to Cowley Community College at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday, February 15^th. The Tigers came away with a convincing 80-60 victory over Independence Community College on Saturday afternoon to improve to 14-11 overall and 11-10 in conference play.