The 9th ranked Barton Community College men's basketball team hung fifty-plus points in each half Saturday afternoon in rolling to a 111-78 conference opening victory over Independence Community College.

Scoring 53 but leading by just eight points at the halftime break, Barton put up 58 points in second half action while holding Independence to just 33 for its largest margin of victory in the 37th meeting of the series and 5th straight head-to-head win.

The Cougars improve to 7-0 on the early season while dropping Independence to 1-6.

Barton will now have a two-game road stretch during the holiday week beginning with a Tuesday 7:30 p.m. tip at Pratt followed by Saturday's 4:00 p.m. contest at Cloud County. The Cougar's next home game comes in ten days on November 29 hosting Cowley College.

Six Cougars reached double-digits on the evening led by Lajae Jones' 23 points and 5 steals.

Scoring Barton's first six points was Myles Thompson in finishing with 11 points and 8 rebounds as Mozae Downing-Rivers added 10 points.

Outscoring Independence by 44 points off the bench, Christian Bowen-Webb's career high night of 5-of-8 behind the arc for 21 points led the effort. Keandre Kindell, who had numerous spin-cycle moves to the paint in adding 15 points while Brent Moss contributed 10 points and 7 rebounds. Chalking up a pair of rim-benders, Fawaz Surakat tied a career high with 7 points.

Cory Curtis, Jr. led all scorers with 30 points on 10-of-19 shooting including 6-of-14 from long range with Ahmaree Muhammad the only other Pirate in double figures with 16 points and a team leading 7 rebounds.