Sizzling Jays sink Mac

By STEVE SELL, Sentinel Sports Editor

McPherson College men's coach Roger Trimmell unfortunately has seen this scene too many times during his 21-year career:

A hot-shooting night by the Tabor Bluejays.

After leading only 37-34 at halftime here Saturday, Tabor blistered the nets for 23 of 33 from the field, 6 of 11 from 3-point, to run away and hide from the Bulldogs, 92-67.

The loss dropped Mac to 0-2 in the KCAC, with the Bulldogs facing road games this week against Ottawa and Southwestern to close out the December portion of the schedule.

Tabor, which starts four Hillsboro High graduates, needed the win, since it had opened KCAC play with an upset loss at home to Sterling.

Mac had battled back from an early 10-point deficit to get it to the three-point game at half. But Tabor came out and hit five treys in the first eight minutes of the second half and the next time Trimmell looked up, his team was 20 points down.

"This was extremely disappointing," said Trimmell, whose team is now 4-5 overall. "I thought we were in pretty good shape at half, as we had weathered the storm to get it close. But in the second half, they shot us right out of the gym."

The Bulldogs did a good job on potential KCAC Player of the Year Micah Ratzlaff, holding him to 14 points. But four other Bluejays hit for double figures, as the Jays wound up hitting 55 percent from the field for the game and seven different players hit treys.

The Bulldogs received 14 points and 13 rebounds from Kenny Romero, but he played only 24 minutes because of fouls. Jose Morales scored 13, Brian Hooks had 12 and Roy McDonald added 10. The Bluejays did a great job on freshman standout Jamaal Norris, limiting him to just five shots and he finished with 6 points.

Mac has some time to regroup as it doesn't play again until Thursday at Ottawa, the KCAC preseason favorite along with Tabor.

Mac (67) -- Morales 4 4-5 13; McDonald 5 0-1 10; Soto 1 0-0 3; Norris 2 2-2 6; Hooks 6 0-1 12; Cox 3 1-2 9; Romero 4 6-8 14. Totals -- 25 13-17 67. 3-pointers -- Cox 2, Morales 1, Soto 1.

Tabor (92) -- S. Brubacher 4 0-0 8; G. Brubacher 5 0-0 11; Shaffer 0 2-2 2; Fast 1 0-0 2; T. Ratzlaff 6 0-0 13; Kopper 3 0-0 7; Randall 6 0-0 13; Gattis 2 3-5 7; Schafer 0 3-4 3; M. Ratzlaff 6 0-0 14; Reese 5 0-0 12. Totals -- 37 8-13 92. 3-pointers -- S. Brubacher 2, M. Ratzlaff 2, Reese 2, G. Brubacher 1, T. Ratzlaff 1, Kopper 1, Randall 1.