Bluejays fall to No. 23 Friends

Lance Carter drives into the paint for a basket during the second half against Friends Saturday. Carter led the Bluejays with 22 points in Tabor?s 111-103 overtime loss. The Tabor College men battled 23rd-ranked Friends to a 93-93 tie at the end of regulation, but couldn?t hold off the KCAC-leading Falcons in overtime, losing 111-103 in the regular season finale Saturday.

?(Friends is) good, and they hit shots,? coach Micah Ratzlaff said. ?That?s why they?re the best team in the conference.?

Friends opened the game with a three-pointer, but Nick Sauer answered with one of his own 14 seconds later. Tabor took its first lead at 7-5 when Lance Carter and Andrew Thomas scored consecutive baskets.

The next 2:30 included five three-pointers. Tabor?s two threes came from Carter, and the teams were locked at 16 with 10:51 left in the half.

The game remained close throughout the first half, but the Bluejays managed a 45-42 lead at the break.

Tabor enjoyed a 7-0 run early in the second half and maintained the lead until Friends scored 12 straight points to lead 62-56 at 14:01.

Dewayne Biggs made a three-point play and Carter followed with two baskets to give the Bluejays a 66-65 lead.

The Bluejays led by eight, 86-78, with 6:31 to play, but when they turned the ball over two possessions in a row, then missed some shots, Friends scored nine straight points to take an 87-86 lead with 4:05 left in regulation.

Tabor still led 93-91 after Hopkinson drained a three-pointer and Carter chipped in a free throw with less than a minute to play.

Friends missed two shots after that, but drew a foul that sent Joe Mitchell to the line with 28.5 seconds left. He made both free throws to tie the game and send it into overtime when Tabor failed to get a shot off on its final possession.

Thomas scored first for Tabor, but a 9-0 run gave the Falcons the lead for good at 102-95. Biggs scored the rest of Tabor?s points, but the closest the Bluejays got was three points.

?I had a feeling we needed to get this done in regulation,? Ratzlaff said. ?We had a chance. I thought we were going to get the rebound when we got a stop, and then they came back up with the ball and we just ran out of gas.?

Mitchell?the top scorer in NAIA Division II at 32.9 points per game?scored 40 points to lead all scorers. Carter led Tabor with 22 points. Biggs added 21, Marc Hop?kinson 16, Thomas 15 and D?Marco Smith 13.

Saint Mary?After a close first half, Tabor pulled away for a 78-67 victory Thursday.

?We played a full game,? coach Micah Ratzlaff said. ?We played really hard and kept the game close the entire time. We got some defensive stops toward the end and hit our free throws. It was a big win.?

The two teams got off to an even start, but with Saint Mary leading 15-12, Tabor scored seven straight points to reclaim a lead. The teams remained within three points the duration of the half, which ended with Tabor ahead 28-27.

With the score tied at 32 with 17:13 to go, the Spires built a 38-33 lead just over a minute later. The Spires led 50-45 with 10 minutes to go, but a three-pointer and two free throws from Carter and two free throws from Dewayne Biggs tied the game at 52.

A basket by Samuel gave Tabor the lead for good with 4:56 left in the game. With the score 65-64 with 2:09 left, Tabor launched an 11-1 run to break open the game.

Thomas led Tabor with 23 points and 11 rebounds. Biggs added 14 points and Carter 12.

Coming?As the No. 5 seed in the KCAC men?s basketball tournament, Tabor (10-8, 17-12) will face a rematch with No. 4 Saint Mary (11-7, 17-11)?in Leaven?worth Thursday at 7 p.m. The winner of that game will face either No. 1 Friends (15-3, 24-5) or No. 8 South?western (7-11, 18-12) Satur?day at 7 p.m. in a semifinal matchup. The championship game will be played at Hart?man Arena near Wichita Monday at 8 p.m.

Additional quarterfinal games include No. 6 Ottawa at No. 3 Bethany and No. 7 McPherson at No. 2 Sterling.

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