Bluejays knock off league-power Sterling
Tabor men hang on for win over surging Warriors, 78-70
By RYAN RICHTER
Sports writer
Through the years, some places have been easy for the Bluejays to play.
Then there's some that generally prove to be a pothole, like Saturday's opponent. Sterling has been anything but a friendly place for the Bluejays to play.
On Saturday, they had to dig down deep and hang on to grind out a 78-70 win over the team tabbed to finish second in preseason behind Southwestern.
"It was a good win for us," Bluejay coach Don Brubacher said. "It's been a number of years since we've won there, but it's still too early to tell how we match up in the league. It's definitely a confidence boost for us."
This one had the makings of getting ugly quickly with the Bluejays (5-4, 2-0 KCAC) clinging to a double-digit lead throughout much of the first half.
Using a unique pressure defense, the Warriors harassed Tabor into missing some shots to get back into the game.
What was once a 16-point lead had shriveled to 39-32 by the break despite the Bluejays shooting a blistering 54 percent from the floor and the Warriors being held to a scant 32.
"It was a game of runs in both directions," Brubacher said. "They play a unique style of pressure defense and we missed some shots. We were not as good defensively as I'd like and we kept giving up runs."
Behind a balanced scoring onslaught that saw four Bluejays finish in double figures, Tabor was able to push its lead back to double digits again in the second half.
The game got wild down the stretch with the Warriors cutting the lead to three with 1:00 left.
From there, Tabor got the ball into the hands of Grant Brubacher, who finished with 16 points, going a near flawless 11-for-12 at the foul line.
Tabor finished the game 20-for-27 at the free throw line for 74 percent while hitting a season-high 59 percent from the floor and a scalding 71 percent from downtown.
Brad Gattis scored a team-high 18 points from 50 percent shooting and Andy Brubacher added 14 more points, flushing 4-for-4 from outside.
Tyler Weinbrenner chipped in with 12, including a pair of threes.
The Bluejay defense held the Warriors to 37 percent shooting and a frigid 6-of-21 from long range.
Tabor faces another huge road test Thursday at Winfield against the Southwestern Moundbuilders with tip-off scheduled for 8 p.m.
