Cougars' comeback draws iron, Barton men's season ends to Daytona State #GoBarton

The 9th seeded Barton Community College men's basketball team fought back from a fifteen point deficit Tuesday afternoon but a game tying three-pointer clipped off the front rim leaving the Cougars on the wrong side of a 73-70 result to 8th seeded Daytona State College in the second round of the 2025 NJCAA Division I National Tournament.

Clawing its way back in second half play, the Cougars drew within two with 6:31 to play and again by three a minute later. Daytona State responded with the next four and would then bury consecutive three-pointers pushing the gap back out to eight.

For the remaining 4:41 Barton had its chances, the Cougars' stifling defense keeping the Falcons off the scoreboard until a shot-clock beating trey with 2:21 remaining again created another eight point deficit.

An Aris Rodriguez triple provided the answer with Brent Moss' 5th offensive rebound in the game sixty second later for a putback sliced it to three.

Sending the Falcons to the free throw line with fifteen seconds left, the Cougars secured the defensive rebound to move the ball up the floor finding freshly entered into the ball game Lyna Brooks, Jr. on the right wing. Pump faking and moving a step to the left, the freshman's shot was on right on target but fell just short on the front lip.

The gritty comeback included the halftime adjustments of shoring up the paint, limiting the Falcons to just five offensive rebounds in the second half and four made three-pointers.  The downside came as missed opportunities and three of the Falcons' arc busters coming in the last five minutes providing Daytona's final nine points of the game.

The loss snaps Barton's 14th straight victory at the Hutchinson Sports Arena and dethroned the reigning National Champions ending the Cougars' season at 26-9. Daytona State (28-5) advances to Wednesday's noon quarterfinals against 17th seeded Connors State College as the Cowboys knocked off top seeded Snow College Monday on a Sportscenter's Top-10 Play of the Day 35-foot buzzer beater.

Moss' performance in his final game as a Cougar filled the stat sheet with game highs of 28 points, including 2-of-3 shooting from three-point land, and 12 rebounds, 5 coming on the offensive glass, in posting his 18th double-double of the season.

Keandre Kindell dished out a game high 8 assists with 5 points despite being saddled with foul problems leaving the Cougars with an additional hurdle to overcome.

Fellow sophomores James Parlow, Jr. in his second game back from injury added 5 points, 2 assists, and game high 3 steals, with Fontaine Williams finishing with 2 points.

Rodriguez closed out his freshman campaign canning 3-of-8 behind the arc for 17 points in joining Moss as the lone double-digit scorers.

The Falcons' balanced scoring placed four in double figures led by Dylan Diaz' 15 points off the bench, 12 coming in first half action on a trio of three-pointers and sinking three free throws after being fouled on another attempt.

One of the nation's best three-point shooting teams, Daytona State finished 10-of-32 (31.3%) from beyond the arc, Diaz' 4-of-9 shooting joined by the combined 4-of-9 from Tyrese Lacey and Isaiah Dorceus scoring 14 and 12 points respectively. Ryan Bewley added 10 points and was one of five Falcons grabbing 6 rebounds each.

RECAP
The Cougars got off to a good start in creating a five-point lead, extending it out to seven on Kindell's steal leading to a Moss flush at 16-9 at the 11:56 mark.

Daytona began to take over in the paint going on a 14-4 stretch in the ensuing five minutes then got hot from the outside dropping three-pointers for its next twelve points building a fifteen point, 40-25 advantage with three minutes left in the half.

The Falcons dropped 6-of-18 from beyond the arc in the opening half while controlling the boards 30-13 including 12 offensive rebounds

After Barton cut the deficit to thirteen at the halftime break, Daytona's initial possession pushed the gap back to match its largest of fifteen.

Rodriguez' triple and seven points, along with Moss battling in the paint, energized the Cougars and faithful during a 12-4 run closing the margin to four with 14:26 remaining.

A five-pack of Falcons points pushed the margin back to double-digits but again the Cougars roared back on a 9-0 run capped by Moss' tip-in with 6:31 left trailing 60-58. In one of many 'what could have been' stretches of the contest, Barton left five points off the board during the run going 1-of-6 from the charity stripe as part of just 50% (11-of-22) free throw shooting for the game.