GREAT BEND, Kan. — The No. 15-ranked Hutchinson Community College men's basketball team saw its three-game winning streak come to a close on Wednesday, losing at No. 1 Barton, 91-78.
The Blue Dragons fall to 24-5 overall, 19-4 in Jayhawk Conference play.
Hutchinson and Barton traded leads back-and-forth in the first half before the Cougars eventually led 37-33 at halftime. Barton outscored Hutchinson in the second half, 54-45.
Barton forced a Hutchinson turnover within the first two seconds of the second half, which resulted in three points and a seven-point Cougar lead.
The Cougars took advantage of Hutchinson miscues, scoring 30 points off of 20 Blue Dragon turnovers. HutchCC scored nine points on eight Barton mishaps.
Hutchinson pulled within seven with 8:35 remaining, but that is the closest the Blue Dragons would get. Barton extended its lead to 15 with under a minute to go, but for the most part the Blue Dragons kept it within eight to 12.
Every time the Blue Dragons had a big shot, Barton had an answer.
Hutchinson was led by Tino Simon with 20 points and 10 rebounds for his second straight double-double. Russell Branch finished with a career-high 13 points, while Kobe Smith also added 13.
Hutchinson was without leading scorer Kam Thomas due to an injury sustained on Friday in practice.
Barton was paced by all five starters in double-figure scoring, led by Lajae Jones with 19 points and 14 rebounds. Ring Malith added 15, Cooper Jackson and Brent Moss had 14.
HutchCC will travel to Garden City on Wednesday for the regular season finale against the Broncbusters at 7:30 p.m. Barton will play its final regular season game at Colby on Tuesday.