Tabor wraps ?07 with 81-62 at Newman

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Mike Rousell out-flanks Newman tower of power Ryan Bradley with a sharp pass Saturday night. Bradley and Aaron Whitelaw (not pictured) tied to lead all scorers with 14 points apiece.?

The Tabor College men were defeated 82-61 in a mid-season exhibition game against New?man University Saturday in Wichita.

The Jets got off to a fast start behind the sharp shooting of Camilo Londono. Londono scored a layup for a 2-0 Newman lead 15 seconds into the game and drained 3-pointers at 17:35, 16:57 and 15:23. A fast-break layup by Jarvis Jackson gave the Jets an 18-8 lead, and Newman never looked back.

Zach Vanselow cut the lead to 8 points with a jump shot in the lane on Tabor?s next possession.

The Bluejays? next offensive highlight came with 8:32 left in the half, when Orson Thomas swatted a Newman player?s ill-advised attempt at a layup out to Jordan Funk, who ran the fast break to perfection, faking a jump shot to draw the lone defender toward him before bouncing a pass to Mike Stoecker for an unguarded layup.

Thomas turned defense into offense again with 4:18 to play in the half, stealing the ball from Jackson and threading a pass to Stoecker, who kicked the ball out to Kyle deBlonk. DeBlonk drained his 3-pointer.

On the next series, deBlonk knocked the ball away from Ryan Bradley and fed it ahead for a two-handed jam by Thomas.

It was 38-24 at halftime, but the opening minutes of the second period were not kind to the Bluejays. Vanselow was whistled for two personals in rapid succession after being limited to only seven minutes of action in the first half because of foul trouble.

Aaron Whitelaw made it 46-31 with a 3-point shot set up on an inbounds pass from Mike Rousell. Thomas scored a 3-point play at 2:24 for Tabor?s 36th point.

With 8:31 to go, Tabor put together a stretch of fine individual efforts. Whitelaw started the run by lofting a teardrop floater over a defender to score. Vanselow stepped up next and used a sharp spin move to free himself for a short-range jump shot. Thomas rebounded a Bluejay?s missed 3-pointer and put up a difficult shot, which rimmed out?and finished the play with a stick-back of his own miss.

Tabor?s next possession ended with Vanselow scoring a foul shot to complete a 3-point play. Vanselow then worked an inside-outside setup with a Tabor guard and assisted on a 3-pointer by Whitelaw.

Whitelaw?s basket made it 76-50 with 5:56 remaining, and Tabor outscored Newman 11-6 the rest of the way.

Whitelaw scored a game-high 14 points. Bradley scored 14 for Newman. After tallying 11 in the first half, Londono did not score in the second half.

Thomas scored 12 points and caught 12 rebounds, and Vanselow scored 11 points.

Coming?Tabor (2-1, 4-7) has a nine-day layoff before a visit to Ada, Okla., for an exhibition game against East Central University.

East Central, like Newman, is an NCAA Division II school. Tabor returns to Hillsboro for a pair of NAIA Division II matchups at the annual Tabor Classic.

Tabor will host Missouri Baptist at 8 p.m. Jan. 4. and Savannah at 3 p.m. Jan. 5.

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