Swedes' late surge denies Tabor the win
Tabor men jolted
by Bethany 79-70
BY RYAN RICHTER
Sports writer
Bluejay coach Don Brubacher sounded like a broken record trying to explain what caused his team's downfall Saturday against the hosting Bethany Swedes.
Free throws and rebounding. Rebounding and free throws, same things he's been harping about all season long.
Take your pick.
Either or both have done its share of doing a number on the Bluejays enough this season.
Ranking second to the last in league rebounding has made for plenty of dyspeptic grumblings from the Bluejay coaching staff.
Both added up to kickback for Tabor Saturday as the Swedes joined the Sterling Warriors as the only two KCAC teams so far, to sweep the Bluejays during the regular season.
Bethany 79. Tabor 70.
One of the biggest blows came from the Swedes outrebounding the Bluejays decisively, 43-24 and 9-6 offensively.
"When you're dominated like that on the boards, you better shoot the ball really, really well," a sullen Brubacher said. "You better do something right or you're going to lose every time."
Mix that in with Tabor hitting a modest 15 for 25 from the free throw line and it's not enough to beat a 23rd ranked team like the Swedes.
The loss leaves Tabor at 12-9 overall and in a three-way jumble for third place in the league with Southwestern and the Warriors at 7-5 in the KCAC.
"Our execution in our half court offense broke down in far too many positions," Brubacher said. "We simply didn't give the offense a good chance to succeed because of poor execution."
Something else that sounds like a broken record along with Tabor fumbling a halftime lead.
Tabor fought its way back in front 19-17 with 10:36 left in the first half after being down by as many as seven in the game's first 5:30.
Dustin Hildebrand was a fly in the ointment for Tabor all night.
Every time the Swedes needed a basket, Hildebrand responded, burning the Bluejays for a game- and career-high 32 points with 16 points coming in each half along with a trio of triples.
One of his threes helped regain the lead for Bethany, 24-23 with just over 5:30 left in the half.
The lead was traded three times before Tyson Ratzlaff fueled a 5-0 run to send Tabor in at intermission with a 36-29 lead behind 46 percent shooting.
Tyson scored a season-team-high 23 points with 11 in the first half. Joining him in double figures were Micah Ratzlaff with 12 and Cody Schafer with 11.
Hildebrand wasn't the only one the Bluejays had to worry about, and that was bad news with Tabor's defensive breakdowns.
You could see the Bluejays beginning to crumble with under 10:00 left as Charlie Mercado teamed up with Hildebrand to create chaos for Tabor.
In a 2:17 span, Mercado drilled a three as part of his 18 points to spark a 10-0 run for the Swedes which left Tabor trailing, 62-54 with just outside 7:00 to go.
If there was one rebound the Bluejays needed to get, it came with 5:07 left, trailing 62-61.
Hildebrand drew iron on a three-pointer and Rassan Hines boarded the rebound out to Mercado, who dished it off to an unguarded Hildebrand.
The shot tickled the twine and Tabor's deficit had grown back to 65-61.
Despite cutting the lead to one once more, Tabor's head never submerged the lead.
"If there was one rebound in the basketball game we needed to come up with, it was that one" Brubacher said of the Swedes' key offensive rebound. "It's rebounding and it just seems to continually come back to rebounding for us to such a large extent.
"We played some good stretches, but at this point in the season, we're just trying to figure out how to help the guys play consistently and we're so far from that."
Wanting to conserve the clock, the Bluejays were left trying to foul, only to no avail as the Swedes burned Tabor at the line the second half, sinking a perfect 20 for 20 and 23 for 28 on the night.
The Bluejays host the Bethel Threshers tonight in an 8 p.m. tipoff. The Threshers humiliated Tabor in the final game of 2002, 78-62 in North Newton.
On Saturday, the Bluejays travel to Ottawa to take on the Braves in a 7 p.m. start.
McPherson
Unlike what they couldn't do Saturday against the Swedes, the Bluejays were able to weather a storm Thursday night in Hillsboro, fending off a poised McPherson Bulldog team, 69-57.
After falling behind by as many as four in the opening stages of the game, Tabor regained for good, 24-23, with 2:46 left in the first half on a Schafer three.
Posting the same 12 for 29 from the floor in the first half, the Bulldogs never vacated the premises.
Ironically, Tabor's first half shooting carried over into the second to finish 24 for 58 on another 12 for 29 half.
The Bluejays stretched their lead as far as 16 late in the game, but with three players finishing with double-doubles, McPherson was hard to knock out.
The Bulldogs pulled to within five with 6:31 left before Tabor took off on an 11-0 run which made for its largest lead.
Tabor's defense turned it up a notch the second half, cooling McPherson to 26 percent and 33 for the game along with holding it to 13 percent from outside the arc.
Tabor again got another balanced scoring attack with Micah Ratzlaff and Brad Gattis tying for team-highs 15 points with Micah and Tyson pacing Tabor's rebounding with nine and eight, respectively.
Tyson chipped in 13 points and Jeremiah Randall supplied 10.
Tabor 70, Bethany 79
Tabor 36 34 — 70
Bethany 29 50 — 79
Total points — S. Brubacher, 3; T. Ratzlaff, 23; Gattis, 6; Schafer, 11; M. Ratzlaff, 12; Kopper, 5; Randall, 8; Karber, 2.
Steals — S. Brubacher, 1; T. Ratzlaff, 4; Gattis, 1; Karber, 1.
Rebounds — S. Brubacher, 6; T. Ratzlaff, 3; Gattis, 3; Schafer, 2; M. Ratzlaff, 4; Kopper, 1; Randall, 4; Karber, 1.
Assists — S. Brubacher, 3; T. Ratzlaff, 2; Gattis, 1; Schafer, 2; M. Ratzlaff, 8; Randall, 1.
