Tabor falls to Friends 54-52
It was one and done for the KCAC champion Tabor Bluejays in the post-season KCAC tournament as the Friends Falcons swept into Hillsboro Wednesday night and escaped with a 54-52 win.
The Bluejays never led in the first half and trailed by as many as nine points, 15-6, before closing within a point at 17-16, but the Falcons rebuilt a seven point lead by halftime, 30-23.
Things looked better for Tabor to start the second half as the Bluejays scored 10 of the first 12 points of the half to grab a 33-32 lead with 17:01 to play, but the lead was short-lived and proved to be the only lead Tabor would enjoy the entire evening.
Tabor trailed by as many as eight points with just 6:41 to play but rallied to tie the game at 52 with 33 seconds to play. A pair of free throws by Friend's Greg Carrell however with just over 5 seconds remaining gave the Falcons the upset victory.
Tabor connected on 22 of 47 shots (46.8 percent) from the field while Friends was 21 of 57 (36.8 percent) from the field.
Tabor hit just 6 of 12 charity tosses compared to 8 of 10 for the Falcons.
Tabor won the rebounding battle 33-32 led by Brad Gattis' five boards.
Gattis and Anthony Monson both scored 10 points to lead the Bluejay offense.
The loss snapped Tabor's 10 game winning streak and dropped its overall record to 20-9.
Tabor now awaits word on its opponent at the NAIA national Division II tournament at Point Lookout, Missouri. Action begins on March 9 and 10.
