HUTCHINSON, Kan. (KWCH) - The Barton Cougars were the team to beat in junior college basketball for nearly the entire 2023-24 season. The Cougars brought a 35-1 record into Saturday’s NJCAA Division I National Championship game with a trophy to bring back to Great Bend on their mind.
Their opponent, Triton College held an early first half lead before a three-point attack gave Barton a 23-21 advantage. Barton went on to the locker rooms with a 46-39 lead at halftime.
Down the stretch Triton again made Cougar fans sweat, closing the deficit down to single digits in the final minutes, but it was Barton that prevailed 88-73. After falling in their lone national championship appearance 25 years ago, Saturday marked Barton’s first national championship in program history.
“It’s special. We wanted to be the first team to bring home the trophy,” said Barton guard Ring Malith. “I’m happy we did it, we had a great season.”
“You saw it here today, there was a lot of people here,” said third year head coach Jeremy Coombs. “We started to see that in our home games a lot this year. The place was packed, it was a great environment for the guys to play in. We’re happy to bring it back to Great Bend but we’re really excited for our team just because they worked so hard for it.”
The one-seeded Cougars dominated their way through the national tournament in Hutchinson Sports Arena, defeating their tournament opponents by a combined 59 points in four matchups as they were determined for the outcome they saw Saturday.
“Since the preseason it was our goal,” Tournament MVP Lajae Jones said. “Win the conference, region, and the national championship.”
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