Great Bend, Kan. – Last night, February 26th, the Pratt Community College (PCC) Beavers traveled to Great Bend, KS to face the Barton Community College (BCC) Cougars for the opening round of the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) Region IV tournament. It was the third time this season the Beavers and Cougars have faced each other and the second time on the campus of BCC. Most recently, the Beavers traveled to Barton on February 9th and unfortunately lost the contest 93-80.
The Beavers did not waste anytime in last night's contest and built a 46-20 lead by the 4:57 mark in the first half. However, to end the first half, the Cougars went on a 20-1 run and went into the locker room down by seven 47-40 at halftime. In the second half, the Beavers managed to hold onto their lead through the 7:48 mark. For Barton, Cougar Downing made back-to-back-to-back three-point baskets to give them a 69-68 lead with 7:13 left to go. At the 4:59 mark, the Beavers regained a one-point lead. Barton was able to tie the game four times in the final minutes of the game, but never retook the lead. With four seconds left on the clock, sophomore Julian Eziukwu made a wide-open layup to win the game 84-82 for the Beavers.
"It's been an incredible ride with everyday being a rollercoaster and most days taking it an hour by hour with what may be coming next," said Head Coach Kenny Eddy. "I inherited an incredible group of guys from Coach Flynn who were ready for these moments. It felt good to get another road win and I am so happy for these guys."
Freshman forward Cam Morris lead the team with 18 points and 15 rebounds. Sophomores Harrison Eghan had 16 points, Nasan Ayala contributed 15 points, and Eziukwu had 11 points including the game winner. Pratt scored 22 points off of turnovers and had 23 points off the bench.
"We hit shots and didn't come out flat which is what we were preaching all week," said Coach Eddy. "We couldn't do the same thing we did the last time we where here in letting two of their shooters get comfortable early."
The Beavers will now travel to Hutchinson, KS on Tuesday, March 1st for a primetime matchup against the Hutchinson Community College (HCC) Blue Dragons. Gametime is scheduled for 7:30 pm The #21 Blue Dragons were in town this past Monday, February 21st for their final regular season matchup. The Beavers played a very physical game and were able to hold on to win 112-100. The last time the Beavers stepped foot in the Hutchinson Sports Arena was on November 23rd. Both teams meet up for a pre-Thanksgiving matchup. Hutch was victorious in thae game 106-99.
"Those guys are going to be ready for that game and I'm sure that crowd will be great," said Coach Eddy. "We are going to take it day by day and go back and review film and make any adjustments needed. We don't care what team is put in front of us we want to make it happen."
