TABOR: Bluejays top Tisby-less Falcons
Micah Ratzlaff scores game-high 23 to lead Tabor past struggling Friends
BY RYAN RICHTER
Sports writer
The Bluejays had to know just how the Friends Falcons must have felt Saturday night in Wichita without their star, Bradley transfer Antoine Tisby.
The Bluejays went the majority of last season without their standout, All-American Micah Ratzlaff.
With the 6-foot-9-inch Tisby on the court, the Falcons were even ranked among the NAIA Division II's top 30 teams.
Ever since Tisby was ruled ineligible after 10 games, the Falcons have dropped off the KCAC radar screen, losing seven of their last nine.
The Bluejays pushed the Falcons' losing streak to six, winning their sixth-straight game, 68-56.
With the win, Tabor improves to 10-7 on the year and moves into a tie for thirdplace in the KCAC with Sterling at 5-3.
Even without Tisby, Friends still has a force in the middle with Jonathan Jones.
But Jones was about the only consistency the Falcons could conjure up Saturday night.
After Saturday night's game, Ratzlaff appears to be inching closer to being at the peak of his game.
He was a one-man wrecking crew for the Falcons, bombing them with a game-high 23 points, including a sweltering six of eight from downtown.
"Micah hit some key shots at several points in the game," Bluejay coach Don Brubacher said. "He just had a very good game tonight. You have to give the team credit for getting him good looks."
Not even midway through the first frame, Ratzlaff had already scored 12 points on a perfect four-for-four from beyond the arc.
By that time, an 8-0 run by the Bluejays swelled their lead up to 18-4 after Ratzlaff's third trey with 11:35 to go in the first half.
Ratzlaff had help, too, with Brad Gattis scoring 13 points and hauling in a team-high seven rebounds.
Facing a potent Bluejay man-defense, the Falcons looked antsy throughout the first 20 minutes.
Friends hit a ragged seven for 25 from the floor for 28 percent with Jackson scoring 13 of his team-high 22 points and pulling down five of his game-high 17 rebounds.
"It seemed in the first half that our style in defense was really uncomfortable for them," Brubacher said. "We played almost exclusively man-to-man, and I thought they looked uncomfortable."
The Bluejays endured a scoring lapse that lasted better than 3:30, but the Falcons failed to take advantage of the drought.
Jeremiah Randall hit a pair of free throws with nine seconds left that pushed the Tabor lead to 35-19 at halftime.
Tabor's had the uncanny trend of self-destructing in the first 10 minutes of the second half.
Hitting 52 percent from the field in the first half, the Bluejays chilled down to 38 percent the second half which helped the Falcons stay in the neighborhood.
The Bluejays' frontcourt defense seemed a step slower the second half, allowing McMillin to score eight of the Falcons' first 11 points.
Jones' 15th point of the game chopped Tabor's lead to 45-34, leading to a Brubacher timeout.
"The second half we were just a tiny bit slower with our reaction to step into guarding position," Brubacher said. "We really struggled early in the second half. That's the worst portion of the game for us, or it has been since break."
A three-point play from Jones cut the lead to single digits with just outside 7:00 to go, 52-43.
Tabor then used a 7-0 run to break the game open, 59-45.
Razlaff put the finishing touches on his stellar performance with just under 1:30 left, canning his final triple that stretched the lead to 65-45.
The Bluejays host Kansas Wesleyan tonight at 8 p.m.
On Saturday, Tabor travels to Sterling for a 7 p.m. showdown with the Warriors.
Sterling dropped a 75-72 bombshell on the Bluejays Dec. 5 in Hillsboro in the first meeting.
