GREAT BEND, Kan. - The Independence Men’s Basketball team was one shot away from snapping their losing streak, as a last second shot didn’t fall, resulting in a 92-91 loss at Barton Saturday night. 

It was a battle of two teams trending in opposite directions in Great Bend, as the Pirates came in looking to snap a four game losing streak, while 20th-ranked Barton hadn’t suffered a loss in weeks, as they were looking for their eighth straight victory. 

The two teams swapped buckets for much of the first half, with Barton slowly but surely extending their lead down the stretch of the first 20 minutes. The Pirates trailed by five at the five minute mark, before Barton made one final push to take a double-digit lead into the halftime locker room at 48-38. 

Indy responded quickly out of the half, as they scored seven points in the first minute of play to quickly cut the lead to just three. Indy pace and continued their hot second half as they took their first lead at the 15 minute mark. 

The lead swapped hands multiple times throughout the second half, until Barton put together an 11-1 run to give them a seven point lead just under the 10-minute mark. Indy would continue to fight back as they capped off a run of their own and tied the game at 80 on a three pointer from David Wilson at the six minute mark. 

Trailing by six, with just over two minutes left, the Pirates were on the verge of letting the game slip away late, but Trae Lewis buried the biggest of his five three point makes, and converted the free throw for the four point play, and cut the Barton lead back down to two. 

Trailing by four with under a minute left, Lonnie Bass Jr knocked down two free throws, followed by a huge defensive stop and another 2-2 trip at the foul line, this time by Wilson, tied the game up at 91. 

After Barton only converted one of two free throws on their end, Indy had the ball in their hands, down by one with a chance to steal a win on the road. Zion Dixon turned the corner, got downhill and kicked it to WIll Lobor in the corner who got off a clean look, but came up empty as the Pirates valiant effort fell just short against the nationally ranked Cougars. 

Indy finished the day shooting 40% from the field, while struggling from deep, only hitting on 22% of their three point looks. The Pirates continued to be strong from the free throw line though, as that helped them keep pace with the Cougars, finishing the afternoon 31-37 from the stripe. For one of the few times this year, the Pirates did win the rebounding battle, pulling down 40 boards in total, which helped lead to 16 second chance points. 

Trae Lewis finished with his second 30 point performance of KJCCC play, falling just one point shy of his career high. David Wilson pitched in 21 points, while Lonnie Bass Jr had a monster game finishing with 18 points and 18 rebounds. 

Despite the length losing streak, the Pirates are still right in the mix of the playoff picture with just three games to go. Now sitting at 12-9, the Pirates will square off with Cowley on Wednesday, as the ICC Athletic Department will be honoring the late, great, Bill Juby. Tip-off set for 7:30 PM. The Tigers defeated the Pirates 86-74 back on January 10th.