Men’s Basketball’s Season Ends in Region 6 Semifinals

GREAT BEND, Kan. – The Seward County men's basketball team saw its 2025-26 season end on Friday afternoon at Fleske Fieldhouse in the Region 6 Semifinals with a 102-83 loss to the Barton Cougars.

The five-seed Saints fell to the top-seeded Cougars to conclude the Saints' season, while Barton advances to the championship game on Saturday.

Seward concludes the season with a 20-13 record overall, 13-11 in league play under first-year head coach Austin Downing. It marks the Saints' highest win total and the farthest the team has advanced since the 2018-19 season.

The Saints jumped out to a 5-0 lead off a Brevyn Coleman jumper and a three from Awit Mamer just a little over a minute in. The lead pushed to 8-3 off a Bailey Milligan triple at the 16:51 mark. Barton took its first lead with 15:16 to go in the first half as a Noah Williams layup made it 9-8. They did not trail again in the game. The Cougar lead swelled to 20. Late in the half and Seward trailed 45-28 at halftime.

Seward shot 11-33 (33.3%) in the first half while Barton shot 15-28 (53.6%). Seward was outrebounded 19-12 in the half.

The offense clicked in the second half for Seward but they were unable to contain the Cougars who outscored Seward 57-55 in the second period. Seward got within 16 at multiple points.

For the game, Barton outscored Seward 52-28 in the paint and led by as much as 24. The rebounding battle was close with Barton edging it out 45-40. Barton was 30-41 from the free throw line, Seward was 18-23. The Saints shot 35.1% form the field, Barton shot 52.4%.

Mamer and Lucas N'Gombo led Seward with 13 points each. N'Gombo pulled down eight rebounds. Antonio Williams Jr. and Lyna Brooks Jr. each had nine points off the bench with Brooks Jr. finishing with a team-high 11 rebounds.

Barton's Aris Rodriguez led all scorers with 28 points. Sebastian Muchitsch had 15 points and 13 rebounds.