Bluejays hold off Kansas Wesleyan
Tabor men survive lackluster outing, 70-64
By RYAN RICHTER
Sports writer
Buried somewhere deep beneath the thick blanket of ice that covered Hillsboro Saturday night, the Bluejays must have found a four leaf clover, a penny face-up, or a rabbit's foot.
They had to have found some sort of a good luck charm.
A team that shoots an abysmal 18-for-41 at the free throw line rarely comes out on top in a six-point game.
Saturday marked one of the few times that happens when the Bluejays squared off against the struggling Kansas Wesleyan Coyotes (2-12, 0-6 KCAC.)
Despite a lackluster performance, the Bluejays (10-6 4-2 KCAC) were able to hang on for a 70-64 win.
While some coaches would be happy with a win, Tabor's Don Brubacher had little to smile about.
"I didn't know what it would be like," a disgusted Brubacher said of the game. "We have some advantages over Kansas Wesleyan. If we played well, particularly our ability to get the ball to the basket to our big people. We play intelligently, they are really going to struggle to take that away from us.
"We were lucky to win, especially the way we shot at the free throw line — or didn't shoot from the line. We were very fortunate to win."
With a 86-68 blowout win two nights earlier in Hillsboro against Bethel, the Tabor coach viewed the entire week as a trip in reverse.
Getting a big night from the front court both offensively and defensively was a pretty big "if" for Tabor. The perimeter game bailed the Bluejays out, hitting 38 percent the second half.
Defensively, Tabor's inside tandem of Martin de Boer, Pat Miller, Tony Monson, Chris Metcalf, and Brad Gattis got torched for a combined 44 points by the KWU duo of Scott Brown and Nate Lindberg.
The 6-3 Brown dropped a game-high 23 on the Bluejays on 7-for-13 shooting before fouling out late in the contest.
"We proved tonight we couldn't guard anybody," said Brubacher. "They (KWU) got a 6-3 post player and we couldn't guard him. He absolutely destroyed us.
"If he wouldn't have been in foul trouble quite a bit of the game, he'd have scored more yet."
Neither the Bluejays nor Coyotes could get into any type of a flow offensively with four lead changes and four ties in the first 12:30 of the contest.
Miller and Andy Brubacher tied for a team-high 12 points with Miller draining his only two field goals of the game in the first half. Andy Brubacher was 3-for-8 from long range while Monson added 10 points.
Miller's first of two threes capped a 7-0 run Tabor used to take a 17-16 lead with 8:56 left.
After that, Miller never got another look at the basket in spite of providing the sole bright spot on Tabor's dismal night at the line, going 6-for-6.
Tabor's biggest boost in the front court came from Josh Wertenberger, coming off the bench to score a season-high seven points and pull down three rebounds.
Wertenberger put the lead in the Bluejays' favor for good at the 5:44 mark, 21-19.
Grant Brubacher scored 11, dishing out a game-high five assists. He canned his only three of the game with four seconds left to send Tabor in at recess with a 29-24 lead.
As if the first half wasn't ugly enough, the second half got worse with the Bluejays getting slapped with 20 fouls and the Coyotes, 19.
By the time it was over, a total of 58 fouls had been called, three Coyotes had fouled out, and three each finished with four.
The Bluejays lost one, but also managed to get three to finish with four.
Despite shooting 48 percent the second half, Tabor's poor free throw shooting, aided by the puzzling KW zone, stymied the Bluejays breaking the game open.
Twenty times Tabor had a double-digit lead the final 11:55.
Grant Brubacher drained a pair at the line with 7:18 to go to give the Bluejays their largest, 60-46.
That was after Tabor's field goal shooting fizzled out, going the closing 8:41 without a point.
Much of the Coyotes' gaining on the Bluejays came from using Tabor's biggest enemy as an ally, hitting 20-for-26 at the line.
"This really wasn't a very good week for us overall," Don Brubacher said. "We have plenty to work on, that's for sure."
The Bluejays face a week that can leave the KCAC in a logjam for the top spot starting tonight when they host co-league front-runner Bethany at 8 p.m.
On Saturday, Tabor travels to Sterling for a 7 p.m. showdown with the Warriors.
