Bluejays still searching for first win
Losses to Missouri Valley, Fresno Pacific keep Tabor men winless
By RYAN RICHTER
Sports writer
Don't be surprised if the Bluejays have Dec. 4 circled on their calendars.
That marks the first day of play in the KCAC and a new start to a season gone awry for Tabor.
In seven games of the young season, the Bluejays have had about everything thrown at them but the kitchen sink by tough opponents.
Spending the holiday in Hillsboro competing Friday and Saturday in the Thanksgiving Tournament, there was little for the Bluejays to be thankful for.
Losses Friday and Saturday to Missouri Valley and NAIA Div. I Fresno Pacific, respectively, keep Tabor winless at 0-7.
Name it and it's gone wrong for the Bluejays from everything down to turnovers all the way to poor execution, lack of rebounding, and cold free throw shooting.
Don't forget having to cope with starters Grant Brubacher and Jeremiah Randall temporarily sidelined with injuries.
The Thanksgiving Classic was the same old story, and when its rained, its poured on Tabor.
The Bluejays got a 10-0 run Saturday against the Fresno Pacific Sunbirds to take a 22-12 lead midway through the first half.
But after leading by as many as 10 twice, Tabor gave it all back on its way to running out of gas in overtime, 92-84.
"We've only built a couple of leads in our early games ,and we've given them away every time," a frustrated Bluejay coach Don Brubacher said. "It's not unusual, but I think it was the best effort we've made this year in any of our games to date."
The best effort still wasn't enough despite Tabor committing a season low 10 turnovers.
Jared Reese scored 10 points in the loss, using half his points to give the Bluejays another 10 point lead, 37-27, with 3:18 to go in the first frame.
Reese's fast break points were the last points Tabor would have the remainder of the half.
The Sunbirds didn't stay down for long, rallying for nine unanswered points to pull to within 37-36 at the break aided by the Bluejays hitting 39 percent from the floor and 40 percent for the game.
"It's still frustrating when we go through stretches where we lose our intensity," Don Brubacher said. "We went through a five- or six-minute stretch in the first half where we went flat as could be."
That was the time the Sunbirds made a break for climbing back into the game.
The second half got off to a ragged start for Tabor as it went scoreless for the first 2:30 and Fresno briefly regained the lead.
Fresno's Bryan Huggins killed the Bluejays, lighting them up for a game-high 29 points, taking over in the second half and overtime.
He had a hand in the game's four lead changes in barely the first 5:11 of the second half.
A basket by Colby Bettles with 13:02 left in regulation gave Tabor its largest lead since the 10-point one in the waning moments of the first half, 51-45.
Tabor hit another scoring slump, and Fresno was over the hill again after Jovan Stubotic canned a three with 11:35 to go.
From then on, Tabor spent lots of its energy battling back, falling behind by as many as nine in the game's closing 4:20.
Combining for 32 of Tabor's 84 points, Tyson Ratzlaff and Anthony Monson kept the Bluejays in the Sunbirds' rear view mirror.
Monson scored a team-high 23 points, six coming in the final 3:13 of the second half.
Scoring 11 points amidst dishing out six assists Cody Schafer sent the game to overtime with a basket with 10 ticks left on the clock.
The spent Bluejays then slipped away in overtime with Fresno using its size to hit a blistering 63 percent from the floor.
The Bluejays look for their first win tonight when they tackle the struggling Kansas Wesleyan Coyotes in Hillsboro with tip-off scheduled for 8 p.m.
Tabor then travels Saturday to Lindsborg for a meeting with the 2003 NAIA runner-up Bethany Swedes in a 7 p.m. start.
