BARTLESVILLE, Okla. – The Tabor College Men's Basketball team traveled down to Bartlesville, Okla. this to take on the first place Eagles of Oklahoma Wesleyan University. The Bluejay men were coming off a solid win at home against rival Sterling College on Wednesday night, while the Eagles squeaked by their rival Southwestern College on Wednesday night as well.
 
The game started with the Eagles getting out to a hot start, claiming a 12-point lead as early as the 12:59 mark. The Bluejays would chip away and get the deficit down to five, twice, but the Eagles would push their lead right back out and would head into the halftime break with a 16-point advantage, 46-30. Five Bluejays would score in the first half: Jack Voth (12), Kreeland Avery and Kenyon Holcombe (6), Thatcher McClure (4), and Kalep Crane (2). Voth would be the only Bluejay in double figures in the first half while Kade Hemmert would lead the team on the glass, pulling down four boards.
 
Unfortunately for the Bluejays, the Eagles had no plans to ease up on scoring and would continue to build on their already sizeable lead. Tabor would bring themselves back to within 13 on two different occasions, but that would be the closest they would get. Oklahoma Wesleyan would lead by as many as 32, but would end up winning the game by 29, 94-65. Voth led the team in scoring with 23 and would be the only Bluejay to finish in double figures. Holcombe would be the next highest scorer with nine, Crane had seven, Avery and Hemmert would finish with six, Creighton Kukula would finish with five, Jaiden Miller would have three, and Zach Hiebert would finish with two. Hemmert would lead the team on the glass with seven total rebounds.
 
Head Coach Matt Warren had this to say about the game, "We talked about two things we had to do to give ourselves a chance: rebound and take care of the ball. They had 51 points off of those two areas. OKWU is talented enough as is you can't spot them points. I thought we did some nice things at times offensively when we didn't turn it over. They are very disruptive, and we felt that tonight. We have to rinse that one out and make some adjustments as we prepare for a huge game with talented Bethel team on Wednesday."
 
The Bluejay men will be back at home on Wednesday, February 14^th and will host rival Bethel College. The game will tip off at 7pm and will be broadcast on the KCAC Network. The Bluejays will be looking to even up the series with the Threshers and will hope to use what will certainly be an exciting home environment to their advantage.
 
Be sure to stay up to date with all information regarding Bluejay Athletics by following us on X at @gotaborbluejays, on Instagram and Facebook @taborbluejays, and on our official athletic website, taborbluejays.com.

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).