HILLSBORO, Kan. (October 26, 2019) – The first two games of the 2019-20 season for the Webber International University men's basketball team resulted in two single-digit losses for the Warriors in the state of Kansas. First, Webber fell 80-77 against Sterling College (Kan.) on the night of Friday, October 25, in Sterling, Kansas, before falling 90-81 the next day on Saturday, October 26, at Tabor College (Kan.) in Hillsboro, Kansas.

"Head Men's Basketball Coach Allen Corbin said, "This trip was a tough one for us. It's hard to travel this far and play on back-to-back days. We met a lot of adversity and I learned some things about us. We definitely have a lot to work on this next week."

Despite starting 0-for-8 from 3-point range in the first half in the season opener at Sterling on Friday, the Warriors found themselves down by only a point at the intermission at 35-34 after a steal and a score by junior Rasheem Etienne with only a few seconds left before the buzzer.

Then, despite shooting 50 percent (15-30) from the field in the second half, the Warriors were unable to pull it out in the end as the final 20 minutes featured eight ties and eight lead changes.

After a pair of free throws by junior transfer Corey Corbin, Webber led by six at 77-71 with just under three minutes left.

Unfortunately, the Warriors could not close it out as Sterling came back to tie it at 77-77 with 1:18 left to play.

From there, the Warriors committed turnovers on back-to-back possessions before Sterling's Darius Stewart hit the go-ahead bucket with around 15 seconds left.

Webber then missed a 3-point attempt to take the lead, saw Sterling miss two free throws before giving up the offensive rebound and then watching Sterling go 1-for-2 at the line, and then missed the potential game-tying 3-point attempt as time expired.

The Warriors finished the game making only five of their 21 attempts from 3-point range.

In all, five Warriors reached double-figures in scoring against Sterling as Corbin led Webber with 15 points on 5-of-9 shooting from the field and was only one rebound shy of a double-double with nine. Next was Etienne with 14 points on 5-of-10 shooting, followed by junior Tommie Luke with 11 points, transfer junior Joel Coffey with 10 points and transfer senior Ariel Watson also with 10 points.

In the game at Tabor on Saturday, Luke exploded for 36 points on 15-of-26 shooting and added seven rebounds, three assists and two steals.

Jaylon Myles added 10 points and accounted for half of the Warriors' makes from 3-point range with two as Webber was only 4-for-23 (17.4 percent) from beyond the arc.

In all, Webber was only 1-for-12 from three in the first half and shot below 63 percent from the foul line in both halves.

Other standouts on the stat sheet against Tabor were Coffey with eight points and 11 rebounds, Jonathan Philistin with nine points and five rebounds, and Javonni Quince with seven points and six boards.

Webber led by six at 72-66 with seven minutes remaining in the game after a jumper by Myles, but could not hold on to the lead as Tabor came back to tie it at 77-77 three minutes later following an 11-4 run.

The Warriors took back the lead at 79-77 after two free throws by Philistin with three and a half minutes left, but a 3-pointer by Tabor 30 seconds later on its next possession jumpstarted a 10-0 run that made it 87-79 with a only a minute and a half let and put the home team up for good. Webber turned the ball over three times during that pivotal run by Tabor.

Next up for Webber men's basketball is another set of back-to-back games as the Warriors head back to the state of Florida for the Florida College Tournament in Temple Terrace, Florida. First, the Warriors will play Cumberland University (Tenn.) at 8 p.m. on Friday, November 1, before coming back the next day on Saturday, November 2, to take on the host team, Florida College, at 4 p.m.