Barton wins physical contest at Cowley to claim a share of the conference title

With the win, Barton finished as co-champs in the Jayhawk Conference with Butler. The Cougars, winners of 10 games in a row, are 22-8 overall and finished 17-7 in the conference.

Cowley (18-12) dropped its final two regular-season games to finish in a three-way tie for fifth place in the conference and will be the sixth seed in the Region VI Tournament. The Tigers will host 11^th-seed Hutchinson (14-16) on Saturday at 4.

The Tigers led throughout the first half, which featured a combined 42 free throws. Behind 12 first-half points from Marcus Smith and 10 from sophomore CJ Majors, the Tigers went into halftime with a 46-37 lead.

"We played a great first half and had urgency and pace," Cowley head coach Donnie Jackson said. "We were flying around."

However, within the first seven minutes of the second half, Cowley's lead was gone. A basket by Aris Rodriguez gave the Cougars a 54-52 lead. Rodriguez scored 17 of his game-high 28 points in the game's final 20 minutes of play, and Barton went on to lead 82-72 with two minutes remaining.

Cowley would use a 7-0 run to pull within 82-79 following a three-pointer by freshman Xavier Vickerstaff with 40.7 seconds remaining.

Needing a stop on the defensive end, Barton's Sebastian Muchitsch helped seal the win with a three-point play with only 18.8 seconds remaining.

The Tigers would miss three attempts from beyond the arc as the final seconds ticked off in the six-point home defeat.

Barton outshot Cowley 48.9 percent to 35.6 percent and outscored the Tigers by five from the charity stripe as they went 38-of-46 from the foul line.

"Fouls changed the flow of the game in the second half, and the slower pace is not how we want to play," Jackson said.

Smith led Cowley with 22 points, while Majors added 13. Fellow sophomore Leslie Owens went 7-of-7 from the free-throw line and added 11 points.

The Tigers made 33-of-41 free-throw attempts, but went only 4-of-23 from the three-point line.

"At the end of the day, it's not the ending we wanted for the regular season," Jackson said. "But now it's playoff time. Everyone is 0-0."

Cowley will now turn its focus to a Hutchinson team that had won three games in a row before losing by one point (75-74) at Fort Hays Tech Northwest on Wednesday. The Tigers defeated Hutchinson 63-60 on February 7 in Ark City, sweeping the two regular-season meetings.

Box score:

Barton (85): Sebastian Muchitsch 3-5 6-8 12, Jon Byrd 1-3 2-2 4, Majok Chuol 0-1 1-2 1, Noah Williams 2-4 11-12 15, Aris Rodriguez 9-18 9-11 28, Jayden Ramirez 1-3 3-4 5, Mikey Williams 1-2 0-0 2, Brian Sullivan Jr. 1-3 0-0 2, Blake Rucker 4-6 4-5 14, Pavel Ivanov 0-0 2-2 2. Totals: 22-45 38-46 85.

Cowley (79): Marcus Smith 6-12 9-12 22, Leslie Owens Jr. 2-4 7-7 11, Kyden Thompson 2-5 4-4 8, Xavier Vickerstaff 3-10 0-0 8, CJ Majors 4-9 4-6 13, LJ Britt 0-2 0-0 0, Chase Robinson 0-4 0-0 0, Aven Mboule 0-2 0-0 0, Jordan Smith 2-3 6-8 10, Roman Miller 1-5 3-4 5, Khai Brown 1-3 0-0 2. Totals: 21-59 33-41 79.

Three-pointers: Barton 3-11 (Rucker 2-3, Rodriguez 1-6, Williams 0-2), Cowley 4-23 (Vickerstaff 2-7, Smith 1-6, Majors 1-3, Britt 0-2, Mboule 0-2, Thompson 0-1, Miller 0-1, Brown 0-1). Rebounds: Barton 31 (Muchitsch 7), Cowley 29 (Smith, Thompson, Miller 5). Turnovers: Barton 18, Cowley 12. Total fouls: Barton 26, Cowley 32. Fouled out: Sullivan Jr. Technicals: Barton, Cowley.