Kyle de Blonk's last-second shot saved the Tabor College men's
basketball team's bacon Saturday night in Winfield. Tabor led 32-27 at
halftime, but had to come from behind to win 67-66. After back-to-back
Kyle Kroeker 3-pointers slashed an 8-point Southwestern lead, Jared
Hett tied the game at 56-56 with a pair of foul shots with 4:16 to go.
Hett gave Tabor the lead with a 3-pointer assisted by Seth Hardiman,
but the Moundbuilders Avery Richardson forced the game's fifth tie with
a trey coming out of a Southwestern time out. Hett restored Tabor's
lead to two, and Tim Miser posted tie number six. Hardiman had his shot
blocked on Tabor's subsequent possession, but found the handle and
moved it to Zack Vanselow, who scored for a 63-61 Tabor lead with 1:19
to go.
Southwestern tower of power David King?a transfer from
Wichita State?rebounded Miser's missed 3-point try and scored to knot
it for the seventh time. Tabor went to Vanselow, and the Bluejays' big
man restored the lead to two. Miser made tie No. Eight with 21 seconds
left, and Richardson's steal with under 20 seconds left gave Sheldon
Brown a look at the lead?but Damon Dechant rejected Brown's shot.
King
came up with the offensive rebound, and was fouled by Hett. King missed
the first free throw, but made the second, and Southwestern again
called for time to set its defense. But the Moundbuilders failed to
account for de Blonk, who scored with no time left to set the stage for
Saturday's visit from Kansas Wesleyan.
Vanselow scored 14, Kroeker scored 17, and 10 Bluejays put up two or
more points. King led Southwestern with a 21-13 double-double, Tim
Moore and Jarrett Tyler each had 11 points.
The Coyotes 66-62 home loss to Sterling Thursday dropped KW's to
conference record to 7-4 ?the same as Tabor's? making Saturday's game a
contest for sole possession of fourth place.
The Tabor women held Southwestern to 19 points on 28 percent
shooting in the first half, but reciprocated with a 6-for-29 (21%)
drought in the second half of Saturday's 58-46 loss. Andrea Robinson
(12 points) and Kirsten Watson (11 points) were the high totals for
Tabor, but Southwestern made much hay with its superior depth on a
night that saw the Bluejays rotation limited to seven. The
Moundbuilders rolled 10 in and out of the lineup and eventually put
three in double-digits: Amy Liable (14), Jordyn Cossman (12) and
Jasmine Jackson (12). Southwestern's bench outscored Tabor's 19-5.
At the end of the first half, the Bluejays dominated the scoring
enough
to turn a 13-11 deficit into an 18-13 lead. Robinson made the big shot
of the run, a 3-pointer with 5:46 left. But Southwestern's defense
enabled the Moundbuilders to chip Tabor's lead to 31-31, and Tabor did
not lead by more than one afterward.
Chelsea Malone tied the game at 39-39 with 6:06 to go, but the Bluejays scored only a short shot by Kirsten Watson during the next four minutes?and Southwestern rolled off a dozen to make it 51-41 with two minutes to go.
The Bluejays (5-6) host Kansas Wesleyan (9-2) at 5 p.m. Saturday. The Coyotes are coming off a 67-58 upset of Sterling.
