On Friday, Tabor lost to Graceland College, 72-67. Tabor led 37-27 at halftime, thanks to a variety of factors.

"We defended well in the first half and were a little bit more patient on the offensive end but we still had 11 turnovers-we were just sloppy," coach Don Brubacher said. "The bottom line is they just shot the ball poorly in the first half."

In the second half, the Yellowjackets regained their shooting touch and outscored the Bluejays, 45-30, to grab the five-point win.

"They became much more aggressive and shot better in the second half," Brubacher said. "Our play actually deteriorated in the second half."

Tabor was led by Martin de Boer, who scored 19 points. Brad Gattis and Anthony Monson each added 12 points.

Tabor hit just 35 percent of its shots while the Yellowjackets shot 48 percent from the field in the second half, and finished the game at 38 percent.

The Bluejays committed 19 turnovers in the contest and were outscored, 21-10, from the charity stripe.

"We did not make a good effort in the Graceland game," Brubacher said.

On Saturday, defeated Baker University, 63-48 win. The Bluejays held a slim 32-28 halftime lead, and used a 31-20 second-half advantage to claim the win.

"We played harder on Saturday and did a better job defensively," Brubacher said. "We executed our offense, but we still shot the ball poorly."

Adding to the adversity, leading scorer de Boer was injured. In de his, Anthony Monson led the Bluejay scoring attack with 10 points.

Tabor shot only 33 percent from the field while limiting the Wildcats to 26.7 percent.

The Bluejays made just 2-of-17 shot from beyond the 3-point arc (11.8 percent).

Tabor won the rebounding battle, 43-38.

"Our rebounding is getting better,' Brubacher said. "It's not what it can be, but we're getting better.

"I really felt like we played substantially better on Saturday."

With the win, Tabor improved to 4-3 for the season.

Newman-Tabor defeated Newman University, 69-68, last Wednesday to move to 3-2 for the season.

The win was a welcome result for the Bluejays.

"Newman is a quality team," coach Don Brubacher said. "Every win for us is big because we're still so raw in our game. But each win is absolutely huge for us to help build confidence.

"Anytime you win over a team of Newman's caliber, that's even bigger."

In a first half that featured seven ties and five lead changes, Tabor delivered enough plays to take a 34-28 halftime lead.

"We rebounded well and we guarded very well in the first half to keep us in the ball game," Brubacher said. "I thought our defensive play was good in the first half but they didn't shoot the ball well at all.

"I think we made it hard for them to get open looks, but they got five or six very open looks that they missed in the first half."

Newman hit just 31 percent of their first half shots while the Bluejays connected on 48 percent.

Tabor began the second half scoring seven of the first 10 points to grab a 41-31 lead with 18:15 remaining. But Newman launched a 16-5 run over the next eight minutes and took the lead, 47-46, on an alley-oop dunk by Tyrone Payne.

Payne was called for a technical foul for hanging on the rim, but Newman seemingly had seized the momentum.

But Tabor received a boost of its own when freshman Andy Strong stole a mid-court pass and answered with a stuff of his own, igniting the small holiday crowd to give Tabor a 51-49 advantage.

From then on it was a chess match as the teams endured four ties and five lead changes.

Newman benefitted from its long-range accuracy-which was lacking in the first half-as the Jets at one point connected on three consecutive 3-pointers.

In all, Newman hit 11 bonus baskets in the game.

"They didn't miss those open looks we allowed in the second half," Brubacher said. "But that's typical of them."

Tabor grabbed a four-point lead, 67-63, with just 1:03 to play but Newman wasn't done.

After the Bluejays' lead cut to two, Tabor had the ball under intense pressure from the Jets.

When Grant Brubacher was called for a questionable offensive, Newman gave back the ball with less than a minute remaining.

Blick then drained a 22-foot jumper to put Newman back on top, 68-67, with 28 seconds remaining.

Two time outs later, Grant Brubacher drove to the hoop and drew a foul with just two second to play. The junior point guard calmly sank both tosses to give Tabor the dramatic 69-68 win.

"Grant is a very experienced player," coach Don Brubacher said. "He's played point guard his entire life.

"We're still seeing some definite rust in his play and that showed in some decisions he made that are uncharacteristic of him-but we're seeing marked improvement every game."

Tabor won the rebounding battle 45-28, a stat Brubacher said was imperative.

"Our ability to rebound was very important in this game," he said. "Without that, we would not have won."

Grant Brubacher led the way with 17 points followed by de Boer who had 16 points and 10 rebounds and Anthony Monson with 12 points.

"Certainly getting a win over a team like Newman at this point in the season is a big step for us," Brubacher said.

Coming-Tabor begins conference action Thursday (Dec. 2) by traveling to Winfield to battle the Southwestern Moundbuilders at 8 p.m. On Saturday the Bluejays will host Friends, beginning at 7 p.m.