HILLSBORO, Kan. – The Tabor College Men's Basketball team took on the No. 9 ranked Southwestern College Moundbuilders tonight at home. The Bluejays were coming off a loss on Saturday in Leavenworth against the University of Saint Mary, while the Moundbuilders were coming off a win at home over Evangel University and were coming into the contest riding a four game winning streak.


The Bluejays came out of the gate looking to keep pace with Southwestern, and they would for the first ten minutes. Southwestern's Cevin Clark helped get the Moundbuilders out to a five point lead at the 9:24 mark, which helped turn the tide and swing the momentum Southwestern's way. The Bluejays would find themselves in a big hole, with their greatest deficit being 18 with 2:01 left in the first half. The Bluejays proved to have plenty of fight in them however, and went on a run to bring themselves within ten, a more comfortable position going into the halftime break. Kalep Crane led Tabor in scoring in the first half with nine points while Jaiden Miller had seven, Jack Voth had six, and Thatcher McClure had four. Kenyon Holcombe contributed three points in the first half, while Kade Hemmert had two, and Jake Proctor had one. The Moundbuilders would lead at the half, 42-32.
 
The Moundbuilders came out of the halftime break hot and ready to put on a show. Tabor would find themselves in a 24 point hole at the 14:59 mark, thanks to Wyatt Bell. The Bluejays would have no answer and would struggle trying to match Southwestern, finding themselves down by as many as 26 at one point. The Moundbuilders would go on to win by 25, 84-59. Zach Hiebert, Creighton Kukula, and Leon Srisamutr would all see the court in the final minutes and would each fight hard to try to get the Bluejays back in the game. Crane would finish as the leading scorer for the Bluejays, while Miller would finish with 12, Voth would have ten, Hemmert and MClure would each have eight, and Holcombe and Proctor each had four points.
 
Head Coach Matt Warren had this to say about the game, "Tough one tonight against a really good Southwestern team. They are one of the best offensive teams in the country and I thought there were some stretches where we strung some stops together but obviously not consistently enough. We got off to a nice start on offense but then we let the ball stick and reverted back to bad habits. We have to continue to latch on to our principles when adversity hits and not divide. We have to continue to focus on that and improve in that area."
 
The Bluejays will stay home to host the Evangel University Valor on this coming Saturday. The game will be broadcast live on the KCAC Network and will tip off at 7:00 PM.
 
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).