The Tabor men?s basketball team split two games at home last week, gaining a 90-78 victory over Bethel but falling to Sterling in overtime, 94-93.
Sterling?The Tabor College men let a 7-point lead slip their fingers in the final 3 minutes of regulation play, and Sterling College went on to snatch a 94-93 overtime victory from the Bluejays Saturday in Hillsboro.
A 10-0 Tabor run midway through the second half turned a 67-63 deficit into a 73-67 lead with 5:51 to go.
But Sterlings?s outstanding guards, Eddie Adesodun and Darius Alexander, kept Sterling in the game on the strength of their three-point shooting.
The pair combined for Sterling?s next 17 points to tie the game at 84 with 10.5 seconds to play. A free throw by Robbie Samuel had put Tabor on top 84-82 with 19.7 seconds to go, but Adesodun drove the lane and scored a layup with 10.5 seconds left.
Samuel got off a final shot before the buzzer but it missed the mark.
In overtime, the Adeso?dun and Alexander show continued with the dynamic duo scoring all 10 of Ster?ling?s points.
Samuel hit a pair of free throws to put Tabor on top 86-84, but a basket by Adeso?dun and four points from Alexander put Sterling on top 90-86 with 2:34 left in the overtime.
Andrew Thomas cut the deficit in half when he slammed home a toss pass from Dewayne Biggs with 1:07 to go. But a pair of free throws from both of the Sterling guards in the final 20 seconds iced the victory.
Adesodun finished with 42 points and Alexander with 17?Adesodun was 8-for-13 from behind the arc and Alexander 3-for-10.
Leading the attack for Tabor was Biggs with 25. Lance Carter added 17, Andrew Thomas 14 and Samuel 11. Tabor made seven of 27 shots behind the arc.
With the loss, Tabor dropped to 2-2 in KCAC play and 6-5 overall while Sterling improved to 2-2 and 6-6.
Bethel?The Tabor men defeated Bethel, 90-78, Thursday. The Bluejays enjoyed a 40-35 advantage at halftime, and outscored the Threshers 50-43 in the second half to claim the victory.
?I thought the effort was good, but too many mental errors and silly mistakes that kept Bethel around for the entire game,? coach Micah Ratzlaff said. ?We need to learn to take advantage of our opponent?s mistakes and weaknesses instead of us hurting ourselves time and time again.
?This is something we will continue to work on throughout the year.?
Dewayne Biggs led the Tabor attack with a game-high 24 points. Andrew Thomas added 15, Lance Carter 13 and Robbie Samuel 11. Carter had a double-double with 10 rebounds.
Coming?Tabor will host a Post Holiday Classic Jan. 3-4. The Bluejays will play Benedictine Jan. 3 at 8 p.m. and Central Baptist Jan. 4 at 7 p.m.
Janae Rempel also contributed to this story.
