TC men avenge prior loss to Hastings with 96-78 victory

The Tabor College men’s basketball team swept its opponents in the holiday classic in Hillsboro last weekend, including avenging an earlier loss to Hastings on New Year’s Eve.

Hastings—Having suffered a 77-69 defeat to the Broncos in November, it appeared the Bluejays were determined to achieve a different outcome Saturday.

Aided by a second-half in which the Bluejays made 74 percent of their field goal attempts (20-for-27), Tabor rolled to a 96-78 victory.

Tabor burst to a 22-8 lead with Lance Carter scoring seven points in that span. Hastings narrowed the gap to 28-24; and later, 33-31. Tabor led, 40-37, at halftime.

Tabor went on a 15-5 run to start the second half. The closest Hastings got after that was 72-64, with 7:40 left.

“I thought our toughness was really good, not only for half the game but the entire game,” coach Micah Ratzlaff said. “It was really nice to have a good first half and a really good second half.”

Carter led all scorers with 24 points to add to his eight rebounds and eight assists. Parry scored 16 points, Davaghndre Jones 15 and Julian Winton 11.

USAO—After leading by 15 at halftime, Tabor held off a hot-shooting Drover team to win Friday, 94-89.

The Bluejays made 55 percent of their first-half shots (17-for-31). Tabor scored 12 points off 13 first-half Drover turnovers.

“We got to the point where we were getting some stops and then we were getting out and running and getting the easy baskets,” coach Micah Ratzlaff saidof his team’s defense. “That’s what we wanted to do.”

Tabor trailed, 21-20, midway through the first half, then went on a 9-0 run. By halftime, Tabor led, 48-33. But the Drovers made nearly 62 percent of their second-half attempts (21-for-34).

Leading, 62-45, with 16:05 left, Tabor scored one point in three minutes, allowing USAO to close the gap, 63-55.

“They started hitting layups (and) getting to the rim, and we started panicking a little bit offensively,” Ratzlaff said. “The first 10 minutes of the second half, we didn’t do anything offensively that we did in the first half.”

The Drovers drew within 71-69, then 73-72, and finally tied the game at 79 with 3:05 to play. Parry sandwiched a Drover three with two three-point plays, but USAO took an 89-87 lead with 42 seconds left.

After that, Tabor scored seven unanswered points, beginning with a Parry three, two Winton free-throws after a steal, then a Carter dunk as time expired.

“It felt like everybody thought that game was over the minute we lost the lead, and I didn’t ever really feel that way,” Ratzlaff said. “One thing I don’t like to do is sit back when the game’s tight and say, ‘OK we need to stop, so everybody sit back and don’t foul.’ We either get it or we don’t, so lets go get it.”

Carter led all scorers with 24 points. Parry scored 19, Jones 13 and Winton 11.

USAO played without Taran Buie, who is averaging over 30 points per game to lead the nation.

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