Plummeting Bluejays tumble against Yotes
Tabor men lose fifth straight, 71-61 to KWU
By RYAN RICHTER
Sports writer
As the season wears on, the wheels continue to fall off for the Bluejays.
Just when it looks like things can't get any worse for Tabor, they do.
Hoping to snap a four-game skid Saturday at Salina against the Kansas Wesleyan Coyotes, Tabor was looking in the wrong place the final time the Bluejays will play a Jerry Jones' team.
Zone defense has done its share of giving the Bluejays headaches this season.
Jones used it to bring the Bluejays to their knees the second half Saturday, holding them to 24 points and an icy 27 percent shooting to knock out a 71-61 win.
Tabor's fifth straight loss drops them to 11-13 overall and in a two-way tie for sixth in the KCAC with Friends at 8-8.
Both teams had trouble generating any offense the first part of the game with Tabor building a 10-6 lead.
Those slim four points were the largest edge the Bluejays would ever have all night.
The Coyotes wouldn't stay down, outscoring the Bluejays 17-4 to regain the lead, 23-14, midway through the first half.
The Bluejays aren't a team to play dead either, using an 18-6 run to grab a 32-29 lead with just under 2:30 left before the break.
Tabor went into the locker-room at halftime clinging to a 37-34 lead.
Then Jones and KWU decided to throw Tabor a curve-ball the second half and employ the zone.
Be it a 1-3-1 or a 3-2, the Bluejays were stumped trying to dissect it.
Three-point shooting hasn't been Tabor's cup of tea either.
But the Bluejays were the hottest they've been in a few weeks, hitting an improved eight-for-17.
The lead changed hands seven times throughout the game. Tyler Weinbrenner gave Tabor another four-point edge, canning a triple barely 5:00 into the second half.
Marcus Faubion was a fly in the ointment for the Bluejays in their first meeting, and he was again in the finale, bombing Tabor with a game-high 20 points.
His basket midway through the second half, combined with Tabor's usual problems with carelessness and rebounding would keep it battling uphill.
And if Faubion wasn't scoring, he was keeping the ball alive for second-chance points where the Coyotes burned Tabor for 21 points and a 39-33 edge rebounding.
Key baskets from the Brubachers, Grant and Andy, who finished with 12 and 11, respectively, kept the Bluejays within shouting distance until the game's final stages with KWU ending on 10-3 run.
Faubion tipped an offensive rebound out with just over 1:00 left in the game.
Finishing with 18 points, Jeff Baron's lone three from three attempts drove the nail into the Bluejays' coffin.
Tabor ended the game shooting 41 percent from the field, but spotted the Coyotes 22 points from turnovers.
The Bluejays wrap up the regular season this week beginning with a long road trip Thursday to Leavenworth against winless St. Mary.
Tabor then closes out the year at 7 p.m. Saturday in Hillsboro hosting Bethel.
