Bluejays wallop struggling St. Mary
Tabor men use big first half to dispatch Spires, 72-45
By RYAN RICHTER
Sports writer
Boasting a 5-2 record in the KCAC, the Bluejays finally got something to cure the headaches from two straight losses after opening the conference, 5-0.
For the first time this season, Tabor (6-2, 6-12) emptied its bench with just over 2:00 left in Saturday night's game against the struggling St. Mary Spires (1-7, 3-14.)
A team that hasn't just been getting beaten on the road, but demolished, the Spires' road woes continued after the Bluejays used an explosive first half to crush them, 72-45.
Heading into Thursday's showdown in Wichita with league-leading Friends, a win over the Falcons would leave the Bluejays in a deadlock for first place at 7-2.
As big as the win was for Tabor, Saturday's game left proof that there is no middle ground for the Bluejays.
"I think what the two halves show for us is the on-off nature of our team," said coach Don Brubacher. "We do reasonably well or we play pretty badly. We really do not have any middle ground. It's one or the other."
A 27-point win can be deceiving so don't be duped into thinking Saturday was 40:00 of Bluejays.
Scoring a season game-high 16 points with 14 in the first half, back-to-back triples from Jared Reese helped the Bluejays outscore St. Mary, 22-4 nearly 7:00 in.
Tyson Ratzlaff's three just before the 2:00 mark pushed the Bluejay lead to 42-12. Ratzlaff added 10 points in a balanced scoring attack, hitting 3-for-5 from long range.
Shooting a blistering 60 percent from the floor and 55 percent from downtown, Tabor cruised into the break with a commanding 45-18 lead.
But after using 19 first-half Spire turnovers for 23 points, and holding them to 27 percent from the field, Tabor looked flat as a pancake to start the second half.
The Bluejays' red hot shooting chilled down to 36 percent the second half as they went more than 2:00 before Reese sank a pair of free-throws with 17:51 left.
"We went from being pretty good to bad," Brubacher said of his team's drop in intensity the second half. "We quit playing the game the way we need to play the game.
"It's just one of the things we're learning about the team, and we have to accept that. There are nights where we are going to be pretty bad."
This was a night where the Bluejays could afford a sub-par performance, thanks to the first half.
Anthony Monson also added 10 points in the massacre. His final field goal with 15:51 to go gave Tabor its largest lead of the night, 53-20.
The biggest scare the Spires posed was chopping the lead to 20 with 7:00 remaining.
Jeremiah Randall also broke into double figures with 11 points, pulling down four of Tabor's 30 rebounds.
Brad Gattis grabbed a team-high five amidst scoring nine points.
The Bluejays face the Falcons tonight in an 8 p.m. start before traveling to Salina Saturday to take on the Kansas Wesleyan Coyotes at 7 p.m.
Southwestern
Tyson Ratzlaff's football career came to an end Nov. 21 after the Bluejays' season-ending loss to national runner-up Northwestern Oklahoma State.
Anybody who thought that was dead wrong after the former receiving star getting tackled in the waning moments of Thursday's game against visiting Southwestern went unpunished.
It was that kind of a night for the Bluejays.
Despite tying the game three times the second half, the Bluejays never had the steam to get over the hump.
The brash Moundbuilders used open looks to deal the Bluejays their second consecutive loss with a 71-66 punch in the gut.
Jumping in front 4-0 was the best thing that happened for Tabor.
Southwestern used a 10-0 run to seize control of the game, and it was an uphill battle for Tabor the rest of the night.
With just eight field goals and one three the first half, Tabor's 11-for-15 at the foul line kept the game from coming unraveled by half-time.
After trailing by as many as 16, 11 of Anthony Monson's team-high 18 points helped the Bluejays stay within an arm's length, down 36-28.
The furnaces kicked on the second half, and Tabor's shooting warmed to 62 percent.
Even though the Bluejays opened the second half with a 7-0 run to pull to 36-35, the hill was too steep.
Tabor still shot 52 percent from the floor, but the Builders benefited from an 11-4 edge in second-chance points and 25 points from 17 Tabor turnovers.
Southwestern's physical play inside helped it out-rebound Tabor, 32-23.
Ratzlaff and Brad Gattis broke double digits in scoring with 12 and 10, respectively.
"We're still lacking discipline to execute the game and especially take care of the basketball," a seething Don Brubacher said. "We're lacking the discipline to eliminate the huge, huge defensive mistakes that cost us big points."
