POINT LOOKOUT, Mo. — For the second year in a row, the Tabor College men’s basketball team earned a trip to the NAIA Div. II National Championship Tournament in Point Lookout, Mo., and for the second year in a row, the Bluejays came up short in the first round. Morningside (Iowa) used sharp shooting from behind the arc in the final eight minutes to hand Tabor an 86-79 loss. Senior forward Andrew Thomas dominated the entire game and finished his collegiate career with a game high 28 points and nine rebounds.
Thomas came out of the locker room and gave the Bluejays an immediate spark. Thomas received an alley-oop pass from fellow senior J.T. Nemit and slammed it through the rim. The Mustangs quickly responded and jumped out to a 13-6 lead, thanks to three buckets inside from Morningside senior center Kyle Nikkel.
Tabor came roaring back, as senior guard Dewayne Biggs knocked down a 3-pointer with 13:16 to go in the half to tie the game at 13-all. Biggs kept the gas peddle down and would hit the next two shots for the Bluejays, giving them the 17-13 advantage. Morningside sophomore center Bryce Koch answered with a pair of buckets of his own, tying the game at 17-17.
With 7:45 to go in the half, junior guard Malik Brooks scored his first of four 3-pointers of the game, giving Tabor the 20-17 lead. The Bluejays’ defense also came up with three key stops on defense at the 6:01 mark when Nikkel rebounded a missed shot by teammate Tanner Miller. The Bluejays shut down each put-back attempt and eventually Nikkel turned it over.
Those stops led to more production on offense. With less than three minutes remaining in the half, Biggs and Thomas continued to take it at the rim as they scored a combined six points to give Tabor a 30-22 lead.
However, in the final seconds of the half, Mustang sharp-shooter senior guard Steve O’Neill knocked down a three pointer just before the buzzer and Tabor led by only four at halftime, 34-30.
The second half started just like the first, with Thomas scoring in the paint, putting the Bluejays up 36-30. However, O’Neill kept spotting up and scoring. O’Neill made it a one-point game, 42-41, just four minutes into the second half.
At 15:03, Thomas would add another dunk to extend Tabor’s lead 46-41 and then score off a Biggs’ miss moments later, giving Tabor a 48-44 advantage. Brooks kept firing from behind the arc and gave Tabor a 53-49 cushion with 11:32 to play.
However, the tide turned at the 7:41 mark as Morningside got their first lead in the second half, 62-60, thanks to a three-point shot by senior center Storm Throne. The Mustangs held tight to it until the end, scoring four 3-pointers in the final eight minutes. Brooks did his best to answer with a three of his own, with 1:19 to go. Biggs kept it close, 78-74, with a layup seconds later, but it was too little too late. Biggs finished the game with 21 points, Brooks contributed 12. O’Neill led all scorers with 26 points and was 4-of-6 from behind the arc.
Tabor Head Coach Micah Ratzlaff said the loss can be attributed to a breakdown on defense.
“We just lost a little bit of focus,” Ratzlaff said. “We just lost focus defensively. It wasn’t an effort thing, but miscommunication. Guys were not on the same page and they (Morningside) shoot it so well. They see a couple shots go in and then two go in, then you better watch out. That’s the type of team they are and we knew that the whole time, that’s why we were going in and out of man and zone (defense) and when they got rolling, it was scary.”
Thomas said the Mustangs got momentum back with those shots.
“I think they had a little more confidence in the last few minutes,” Thomas said. “They started shooting it a lot and we tried to guard it, but we didn’t do a great job.”
The Bluejays finished the season with an overall record of 19-13.
“This is the best season we’ve had since I’ve been here,” Ratzlaff added. “To run through the conference (KCAC) and win out, that’s not easy to do.”
Ratzlaff also commended the tremendous effort by Thomas.
“He showed up,” he said. “For him to be a senior, especially knowing this was the last game, he played really, really well. We wish it wouldn’t have been his last game, but he was by far the best player on the floor and was really good.”
Thomas said he wanted to spark his teammates by playing tough.
“I was just trying to be aggressive and get the team going,” Thomas said. “They feed off my energy, so as soon as I’m going hard and making them excited, they play a lot better.”
The seniors contributed 54 of the 79 points the Bluejays scored.
“The seniors played really well tonight, I’m happy about that,” Ratzlaff said.