HILLSBORO, Kan.  The Tabor College Men's Basketball team hosted the Panthers of York University, making the trip down from York, Nebraska. The Bluejay men were looking to bounce back from a tough loss at Evangel to start conference play on Wednesday night. The Panthers were looking to bounce back from a loss at Southwestern. 
 
The Bluejays got on the board first, a minute and 14 seconds into the game with a bucket from Kalep Crane. York would answer with eight straight points from their big man, Much Biel. A three pointer from Thatcher McClure would halt the York run temporarily, but the Panthers would answer with a three of their own at the other end. Jack Voth would score, and fellow Freshman Jake Proctor stole the ball back and assisted in a bucket from Crane. The teams would go on trading buckets, but the Panthers would start mounting a sizeable lead, stretching it to 14 at the 6:35 mark with a Devin Carroll three. The Bluejays would trim the lead down to six at the 3:40 mark thanks to a huge three from Proctor to help breathe some life in the team. The Panthers however would answer, scoring several times before the Bluejays would score again, creating a scoring drought for a minute and a half for Tabor. An and-one from Voth would cut the deficit to eight right before the half. York dominated second chance points in the first half with eight to Tabor's three, while both teams were about even in points off turnovers. Proctor lead the Bluejays in scoring for the first half with 11 points, while Kalep Crane was right behind him with ten. At the end of the first half, the score was 42-34 in favor of York.
 
The Bluejays would go on a five point run to start the second half, thanks to a bucket from Proctor, a Kenyon Holcombe free throw, and a bucket from Jack Voth. The Panthers would go on a run of their own, stretching the lead back out to 11 with just over three minutes played in the second half. McClure would help bring the Bluejays back within six at the 10:45 mark, only to have the Panthers' Biel answer with a bucket of his own. This would not end up like the sequence from the first half however, with York continuing to build onto their lead. In fact, it would turn out to be a nine point swing in favor of the Bluejays. An and-one from Holcombe got the run started for the Bluejays, followed by buckets from James Aboaba, Crane, and Proctor. This sequence would be followed up by a steal from Voth leading to a bucket from Proctor. Throughout the final minutes of the game, both teams would trade baskets until a nice shot from Proctor tied it up with 24 seconds to go. The Bluejays played good defense for the final 24 seconds, but the Panthers' Trevon Dennis made a three with one second to go to give York the win, 79-76.
 
Four Bluejays would finish in double figures: Jake Proctor with 21, Kalep Crane with 18, Jack Voth with 16, and Thatcher McClure with 12, while Kenyon Holcombe had seven and James Aboaba had two. The Bluejays forced seven turnovers, leading to 18 total points off turnovers, with 15 of those points coming in the second half. 
 
Tabor College Head Men's Basketball Coach Matt Warren had this to say about the game, "Really tough one tonight. We battled back and it was back and forth for the last eight minutes of the game, and they just made one more play than we did. Everyone will point to the final minutes, but the game was lost in the first ten minutes when York came out in attack mode. We have started slow several times now and that's on me. I have to do a better job getting us where we need to be early in the games. Give credit to our guys, they really fought and executed down the stretch and to York's credit they made some really tough shots."
 
The Bluejay men will hit the road and travel to Chickasha, Oklahoma to take on the University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma Drovers in a non-conference tilt on Monday, November 21^st. The game will tip off at 7 pm and will be available to watch here.

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).