HILLSBORO, Kan. – The Tabor College Reserve Men's Basketball team took on Friends University's Reserve team on Saturday afternoon. The Bluejays were coming off a loss at home to rival Bethel College on Wednesday, while the Falcons just finished up their Falcon Bowl game between their two Reserve squads. The Bluejays previously beat the Falcons, 88-62 in Wichita back in November.
The Bluejays were looking at a different lineup, due to Creighton Kukula and Kenyon Holcombe suffering injuries on the varsity squad, which caused Langston Taylor and Drew Wertenberger to move up to the varsity squad for the day, leading Head Reserve Coach
Ethan Gager to start
Hayden Lucas, Cole Kimble, Jordy Dolloff,
Brett Buckingham, and Kam Kaniper.
The Bluejays were outgunned in the first half and found themselves down 51-36 at the halftime break. Kaniper led the Bluejays in scoring in the first half with 15 points, while Kimble (5), Fate Thiel (4), Buckingham (4), Dolloff (4), and Lucas (2) rounded out the scoring in the first half for the BLuejays.
The second half would prove to be more of the same, Tabor was feeling the effects of not having as deep of a lineup as they had been used to in the past, as well as not having some of the scorers and playmakers they have been used to having access to. The Falcons would coast to a 93-64 win. Kaniper would lead the team with 17 points and Thiel would have 11 to round out the team in double figures, while Dolloff finished just outside that range with nine. Buckingham (6), Joao Pereira (5), Kimble (5), and Davier Carr (4) would round out the team in scoring.
Head Reserve Coach
Ethan Gager had this to say, "This one is one that we have to move past, the only way we get ourselves out of this hole is by maintaining positivity and working together as a unit to prepare and improve to the best of our ability for our last 2 games."
The Bluejay men will be back at home for one last contest in Tabor College Gymnasium for the season to face Kansas Wesleyan University on Wednesday. The game will tip off at 3:45pm.
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).