Men's Basketball Comes Up Short at (RV) Tabor

HILLSBORO, Kan. (macbulldogs.com) --- The McPherson College men's basketball saw its losing streak stretch to four straight games with an 82-75 loss at Tabor College on Thursday night.
 
The Bulldogs (6-6, 1-5 Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference) jumped out to a 10-5 lead less than two minutes in backed by 3-pointers from DeAndre Henson (Aberdeen, Md., Cloud County CC) and Chris Crook (Oklahoma City, Okla., Millwood HS) only to see the Bluejays (6-6, 5-1 KCAC) respond with five straight points to tie the score at 10 with 14:42 to play.
 
An Aaron Bachura (Wilsey, Kan., Council Grove HS) 3-pointer three minutes later gave McPherson an 18-15 lead, eventually extending the advantage to seven points on a hoop by Reed Rowell with 5:35 left in the half. Tullio Parry and Crook traded baskets on the two ensuing possessions, leaving the Bulldogs with a 33-26 lead with under five minutes to play.
 
Tabor closed out the half on a 12-1 run, retaking the lead on another Urrutia 3-pointer with 38 seconds left and extending the advantage to four points as Kyle Baker hit a three as time expired. McPherson missed its final six shots from the field in the half, including all four attempts from behind the arc.
 
The Bluejays extended the lead to eight points early in the second half, but the Bulldogs used an 18-9 run to erase the deficit. A pair of free throws by Ryan O'Hara (San Antonio, Texas, Cedar Valley CC) gave McPherson a 57-56 lead as the game passed the midway point of the second half. The teams passed the lead back and forth, with Jonathan Gibson tying the score at 60-60 with 8:59 to play.
 
From there, the hosts embarked on an 11-3 run over the next five minutes to take a 71-63 lead. Lance Carter scored five points to lead Tabor during the stretch. The Bluejays used free throws down the stretch to salt the game away.
 
Tabor shot 51.8 percent (29-of-59) overall and topped 60 percent (17-of-28) in the second half. By contrast, the Bulldogs were held to 38.8 percent (26-of-67) shooting overall. Both teams shot over 40 percent from behind the 3-point arc. It could be said the game turned at the free throw line, however, as the Bluejays were 17-of-30 at the charity strip, while McPherson was just 10-of-14.
 
Five Bluejays reached double figures and a sixth barely missed the mark. Carter finished with 16 points on 5-of-12 shooting with eight assists and five rebounds. Urrutia added 15 points on 5-of-7 shooting from behind the arc, while Winton and Davaghndre Jones added 12 points each. Winton also had four assists. Jones tallied seen rebounds, three steals and two assists. Parry just missed a double-double with 11 points and nine rebounds and Baker had nine points on 4-of-9 shooting.
 
Crook scored a game-high 22 points on 8-of-17 shooting, including 6-of-11 from 3-point range. With a three at the 12:53 mark of the first half, he passed George Czaplinski on the MC all-time scoring list and became the 20th McPherson men's player to reach 1,000 career points. He finished the game with 1,016 points. Next on the list is Matt Richardson – father of current Bulldog Cami Richardson – in 19th place with 1,055 points.
 
Bachura drained another four 3-pointers en route to a 14-point night, while Grant Raleigh (Hesston, Kan., Hesston HS) added nine points, four assists and three rebounds. Henson had seven points and four rebounds before fouling out late and Thomas Butler (Key West, Fla., Vermilion CC) added five points and eight rebounds. Garrett Owen (Woodward, Okla., Woodward HS) and Careino Gurley (Minneapolis, Minn., Rochester CTC) combined for only one point offensively (by Gurley), but each had four assists.

"We made a great effort in the second half," said head coach Tim Swartzendruber. "We retook the lead and backed them up for a couple of possessions, but we missed two point-blank layups. We have to make those. We gave a great effort, but Tabor was just a little bit better tonight."

"We just have to put together 40 minutes," Swartzendruber added. "I feel like we're right there. We just need to get over the hump. We played so well early in the season, but we're in a slump right now. If we can get a win or two, we can really get going."

The Bulldogs close out the home portion of the pre-holiday schedule Saturday when Friends University (6-6, 3-3 KCAC) pays a visit to the Sport Center. Tipoff is scheduled for 7 p.m.