SPRINGFIELD, Mo.   The Tabor College Men's Basketball team traveled to Springfield, Missouri to tip-off KCAC play with their first matchup with Evangel University as a conference foe. The two teams have seen each other before, but this time had a little more meaning to it, with the results counting towards the conference standings.
 
Evangel came out the gate hot, commanding a 17 point lead at the 13:45 mark. A made free throw from Jack Voth and 2 made free throws from Kalep Crane helped the Bluejays start to trim the lead. The Bluejays were able to pull within ten points of the Valor at the 10:48 mark, thanks to a layup from James Aboaba, but that would be the closest the Bluejays would come for the rest of the game. Tabor led the two teams in second chance points at the end of the first half with five, while Evangel led in points off turnovers, bench points, and points in the paint. At the end of the first half, the Valor led 43-24. Crane and Thatcher McClure led the Bluejays in scoring at the half, both with six points each. 
 
The Valor continued to pull away in the second half, stretching their lead to 41 at one point. The Bluejays would trim the lead to 35, with a made free throw from Jaiden Miller, before the Valor would score again. The Bluejays were outrebounded 25-15 in the game and had trouble getting good shots up, shooting 37% from the field and 14.3% from three. Free throws also seemed to trip up the Bluejay men, as they shot 9-13 from the line.
 
Aboaba led the Bluejays in scoring with 11 points, Jaiden Miller had nine, Kalep Crane had eight, and Thatcher McClure had seven.
 
Tabor College Head Men's Basketball Coach Matt Warren had this to say about the game, "Obviously, a tough one for our team tonight. Hats off to Evangel and Coach Capel, they were the aggressors tonight on both ends of the floor. We knew going in that they would be hard to guard and that proved true tonight. We have to learn from this and have a short memory to turn our focus to a good York team on Saturday at home."
 
The Bluejay men will be back home to host the York University Panthers on Saturday, November 18^th at 7:00 pm before hitting the road again during Thanksgiving week.
 
Tabor College is a Christ-centered institution located in Hillsboro, Kansas. The Bluejays are members of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) and compete in the Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference (KCAC).