Bluejays stave off valiant Thresher effort
72-67 win over Bethel keeps Tabor men's title hopes alive
By RYAN RICHTER
Sports writer
Those thinking of calling the Bluejays has-been Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference champs might want to reconsider about now.
With four games left in the regular season, the league title is still up for grabs.
Tabor (16-8, 10-4 KCAC) stayed in the thick of the race Saturday night, winning in as hostile a place as any against the feisty Bethel Threshers in North Newton.
The 72-67 victory keeps the Bluejays tied with Southwestern a game behind the Sterling Warriors for first place.
The picture is becoming all too familiar for Bluejay coach Don Brubacher.
Tabor jumps out to what would appear to be a solid lead, only to have somebody from the opposing team shoot the lights out from downtown and claw their way back into the game.
Players like McPherson's Roy McDonald, Southwestern's Ricky Kendrick, Sterling's Chris Schneider, and the Threshers' Jayson Artaz on Saturday have been the latest culprits.
It happened again, but it was one of the times the Bluejays were actually able to hang on.
And Grant Brubacher made sure of that.
A point guard that makes things happen on the floor, Grant played the entire game, scoring a game-high 23 points and keeping the boat steady when it was in jeopardy of overturning.
"It just felt to me that we needed him on the court," Don Brubacher said of Grant's performance. "It seemed as though we were not going to get much done without him on the court tonight. That's not always the case, but it just felt that way from the bench.
Nor was it for the Threshers' Tony Hoops giving Tabor more problems, canning a pair of his infamous threes to put Bethel in front early.
Nearly four minutes into the game, Grant had all five of the Bluejays' points before Brad Gattis chopped the lead to 8-7.
Much of the first half turned out to be a shoot-out between Grant and Hoops and Artaz.
The next 15 mintues the lead changed hands seven times with three ties.
Then Scott Schaffer buried a three with 2:07 left to give Tabor the lead the rest of the way, 29-26.
Schaffer and Andy Brubacher each supplied 10 points on a combined 4-of-7 from behind the arc.
In one of his two contested triples that barely beat the shot clock, Grant flushed a three with 50 seconds left to give Tabor a 32-28 at the break, shooting 43 percent from downtown and 48 from the floor.
Hitting 4-of-12 the first half and 10-of-30 for the game, 12 of the Threshers' 28 points came from the Hoops-Artaz duo while Grant's 14 points led all scoring.
"We made a few adjustments in our defense to try to help get us through some of the perimeter picks and help us handle some of them better," Don Brubacher said. "It gave us a better opportunity to get out on the shooters, Hoops hurt us really badly the first half. We did not close him out as aggressively as you need to a good shooter."
What Hoops did the first half was nothing compared to what Artaz did in the second, catching fire for 16 more points with 12 coming in the closing 2:18.
Ryan Lohfink added 19 more points for the Threshers, tying the game at 32, two minutes into the second half.
Despite trailing by a point three times in a 5:53 span, Bethel never could muster the steam to get over the hill.
Schaffer's fast break with 6:45 left stretched the Bluejays' lead as far as 57-45.
With Bethel fouling the final minute, Tabor had to earn the win the hard way down the stretch at the line, hitting 76 percent the second half and 69 on the night.
Even with a game-high 10 rebounds to go along with six points from Martin de Boer, Tabor narrowly lost battling for boards, 33-32.
The Bluejays face another pair of dangerous road games that could wreck their title plans beginning at 8 p.m. tonight in Salina against victory-starved Kansas Wesleyan.
"Kansas Wesleyan is a such dangerous team," said Don Brubacher. "They've played almost everybody close and our team does have a tendency to be complacent. I'm concerned about how we approach the game."
Tabor then travels Saturday to Lindsborg to tackle the Bethany Swedes at 7 p.m.
