By:Patrick Hall Thursday, 3 January, 2008

The PCC Men's Basketball Team started the New Year with a bang Wednesday night by defeating visiting Barton County 70-68. With the hard fought win, Pratt improves to 7-8, while Barton drops to 12-2.

After being down at the half 31-29 and trailing by 14 with 7:42 left in the game, the Beavers battled back by applying a suffocating press and capitalizing on some superb late game heroics from Will Collins and Alex Rivas.

Collins tied the game at 68 with a critical basket, then drove the lane and fed Rivas for the game winning lay-up with 2.7 seconds left.

Carlin Whitten led Pratt scorers with 21 points, while grabbing 10 rebounds. Three of those points came with 4:17 remaining when he hit a three-pointer to cap a 16-2 Pratt run.

Alex Rivas had the kind of performance that demonstrates why he's a dominant force in the Jayhawk. He pulled down 14 boards, blocked 6 shots and scored 15 points, one of which was that game winner. He was 5 0f 7 from the field and 5 of 6 from the line.

The Beavers were without starting point guard Jordan Hammond, but T.J. Hardeman and Abe Lollar did a superb job filling in, combining for 12 points and six assists.

The Beavers will be at home again at the Dome on Saturday, January 5th, when they host Colby Community College at 8:00 pm. The women's game starts at 6:00.