ORIGINALLY WRITTEN TOM STOPPEL
The Tabor Bluejays looked like a team defending its conference title during an impressive 61-40 win over McPherson on Saturday.
Tabor came out aggressive and focused, streaking to a 32-16 lead by halftime. Tabor’s domination was evidenced by McPherson having scored just four points with 7:35 to play in the half.
“Some of that we were fortunate,” a smiling Don Brubacher said afterward. “We gave up some open looks they just didn’t hit, but I think we did a do a good job of guarding them.”
Tabor also hammered the Bulldogs on the backboards, holding a 32-8 halftime advantage that keyed a 14-0 advantage on second-chance points.
“I think they were a little taken aback by how the game went, and instead of responding by getting really aggressive on the boards, I think they did go soft at times,” Brubacher said. “But we really went to the offensive glass effectively and on our defensive end.”
Leading the charge was Anthony Monson, who hauled in seven rebounds, and Chris Metcalf with six.
On offense, Tabor’s attack was balanced, making the task of shutting down the Bluejays that much more difficult.
Martin de Boer had six points in the first half, followed by Scott Shaffer, Pat Miller and Monson with five points each.
Brubacher said scoring balance wasn’t a coincidence.
“We’ve been doing better with getting more people involved in our offense,” he said. “We changed our style of play in the last week and it’s a style that will suit us better and get more people involved.”
McPherson seemed to regroup at halftime and cut the margin to 13 points at 35-22 with 17:40 left in the game, but that’s as close as the Dogs would come.
Back-to-back 3-pointers from Grant Brubacher with the shot clock expiring pushed Tabor’s lead back to 19 with 16:32 to play and it was never threatened.
Brubacher said it was nice not to have to see his team surrender a big run to the opponent like it had the first three KCAC matchups.
“We gave up a little stretch that cut our lead, but that was our bad stretch in the game,” he said. “It’s huge (not to give up a big run). If we’d have given up another 15-point run, it would have been a close enough game that a mistake here or there would have made a difference.”
Tabor was led by Grant Brubacher and Shaffer, who both scored 12 points as the Bluejays hit on 43 percent of their shots from the field, including 10 of 22 from behind the 3-point arc.
Tabor held the Bulldogs to 29 percent shooting from the field and 4-of-19 (21 percent) from the 3-point line.
Tabor dominated the boards, 48-24, led by Miller with eight rebounds and Metcalf and Monson with seven apiece.
With the win, Tabor evened its KCAC record at 2-2 and pushed its overall record to 6-5.
“We’re moving in the right direction, but a two game streak does not make a trend,” Brubacher said. “Whether we can continue to make this work for us remains to be seen, but it’s definitely given us a boost this week.”
Saint Mary-To say the Tabor men needed a win over Saint Mary on Thursday night would have been an understatement.
The defending conference champions came into the contest winless in the Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference and the rest of the league wasn’t about to take mercy on them.
“Nothing is easy,” coach Don Brubacher said with a sigh after his team’s 76-62 win over the Spires. “We’re not to the point in our game where anything will be easy.
“We were 0-2 and still hoping to be competitive in the conference, so this third game ends up being an awfully big game for us.”
Brubacher shook up his starting lineup in part because of injuries and to find a higher octane group.
“We looked at the first two conference games, and it seemed like we had difficulty maintaining a high energy level in both of those games,” he said. “We had already made the conscious choice to work more players into the lineup and keep fresher legs on the court to maintain a higher intensity level, and then Martin’s (de Boer) leg flared up so we needed to rotate more, which we did.”
The two new starters were Pat Miller and Andy Brubacher.
Miller led the Bluejays in scoring with 19 points on 8-for-12 shooting, including 3-for-6 from beyond the 3-point arc.
The first nine minutes of the game was a dog fight as the teams traded the lead twice and tied the score on five occasions.
But a layup by James Black gave the Bluejays a 14-12 lead with 11:15 to play in the half and Tabor appeared to be on its way.
Tabor methodically built its lead through the final nine minutes of the half, climaxing with a Brad Gattis 3-pointer with two seconds left to give Tabor its largest lead of the game, 37-28.
Despite a new lineup, Tabor committed just three turnovers in the half and dished out 10 assists.
Brubacher said those statistics didn’t go unnoticed.
“That’s pretty amazing,” he said. “That’s something the players really need to be acknowledged for, that they handled the ball that well. That was a huge factor.”
In the second half, Tabor aimed to continue its first-half success and a field goal by Grant Brubacher put them on top 46-35 at the 17:03 mark.
But Tabor’s bad habit of giving the opposition a huge scoring run was about to return.
Over the next 4:30, the Spires outscored Tabor 14-0 to grab a 49-46 lead, leaving the Bluejay faithful to wonder if history was doomed to repeat itself-again.
Fortunately, this night would have a different outcome in part because the situation was different.
“The difference was we were up 11 when the run started, so that’s not quite as crushing as if you’re only up three or four-but it was the same phenomenon,” he said. “We couldn’t hit a shot and we couldn’t rebound.
“This time we came out of it and actually played a very high percentage offense after that and got our defense back in order.”
After Monson hit a traditional 3-point play to stop the bleeding, Tabor traded points but still trailed 51-50 with 6:43 to play.
But Miller drained consecutive 3-pointer to stake Tabor to a 58-51 lead and take the wind out of the Spires’ sails.
“Pat gave us a huge boost with his shots,” Brubacher said.
The Bluejays went on to outscore the visitors from Leavenworth, 18-11, and locked up their first conference win.
Beyond Miller’s contributions, Monson added 13 points and 10 rebounds despite battling the flu. Chris Metcalf added 10 points.
Tabor connected on 30 of 70 shots from the floor while the Spires made 22 of 49.
Tabor’s aggressive defense hounded the Spires into 17 turnovers resulting in 22 Bluejay points.
Coming-Tabor travels to Emporia on Saturday to battle NCAA Division II Emporia State. Game time set for 7 p.m.
The men won’t play again until Dec. 31 when they host the Post Holiday Classic. Tabor and Sterling will take turns playing Central Methodist and Hastings during the two-day event.