POYEN - Barton’s size and athleticism proved to be the difference Friday afternoon as the Barton Bears countered an early third-quarter run by the Woodlawn Bears to come away with a 79-49 win in the Class 2A state quarterfinals at Poyen.“Anything you try to do offensively, they give you trouble, whether it’s running a screen or driving the ball or rebounding, that length at all five spots just makes it more difficult,” Woodlawn Coach Logan Adair said about Barton’s athletes.Woodlawn never led in the game but was able to match Barton early. A layup by Jack Lephiew and a 3 by Evan Donnell had the game tied 5-5 with 6:30 left in the first when Barton outscored the Bears 14-7 for the remainder of opening quarter.Barton continued to build on that 19-12 lead in the second, using a 3 from Jordan Humphrey with 28 seconds left to give Barton a 37-24 cushion at the break, matching its largest lead of the game.Much of Barton’s success in the first half could be attributed to its domination on the boards. Barton’s 6-7 senior post Qulan Green pulled in just about any Woodlawn miss. “We started doubling the post in the second half and (Green) wasn’t nearly as aggressive to the basket. So we got a few stops out of that and got us in transition,” Adair said. Quinteryon Wilson had a quick bucket to start the third quarter to push Barton’s lead to 15 before the Bears began to mount a comeback.Jake Allred answered Wilson’s score with a 3-pointer and Ethan Saeler followed with a layup that made it 39-29. Barton’s Christian Williams then had a reverse layout to make it 41-29 before Woodalwn went on a 6-0 run.Immediately after Williams’ score, Lephiew had a half-court pass down to a streaking Saeler who quickly laid it in. After getting a couple of stops on the defensive end, Jude Roberts had back-to-back layups to suddenly make it a six-point game, 41-35, with 5:07 left in the third.T...
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