WATERTOWN, Wis. --- It was a championship worth the price of admission, as the Moody Bible Institute Archers put together a thrilling comeback to take home the NCCAA North Region title by a score of 74-76. Zach Terpstra concluded his MBU career with a season-best 26 points to lead the Sabercats on the night.

With the loss, the Sabercats finish the 2016-17 season with a record of 11-17, and seniors Zach Terpstra, Clayton Morrison, and Wes Wagner concluded their MBU careers.

Terpstra was the danger man for MBU in the opening minutes, as the four-year veteran put MBU ahead with 11 of their first 15 points. Terpstra seemed automatic, as he knocked down three shots from downtown and one deep two-pointer to get the championship game started.

The Sabercats rode the momentum from the senior captain to take a 19-10 lead with 10:00 remaining in the first half. Clayton Morrison logged four assists with no turnovers, as the senior helped spread the Archers.

The next six minutes saw the momentum swing in favor of the Archers, as the visitors concocted a 12-4 run to make it a one-possession game. Two points each from Morrison and Richard Medina increased the Sabercats' lead, but a couple of three-pointers from Moody kept the visitors within one point of the Sabercats going into the final minute. 

It was then that the Sabercats put up six unanswered points to go into the break with a sizeable lead. With the shot clock dead, the Sabercats found a wide open Morrison, who nailed a three-pointer to push the lead to four. After a quick steal, Micah Shepard drew a foul on the fast break, made his shot, and went to the line with 0.2 seconds left with a chance to complete a useful three-point play. Shepard nailed his free throw to put MBU up by seven going into the locker room. 

In the first half, the Sabercats forced 10 Moody turnovers and limited the Archers to shooting 32.1 percent from the field. (35-28)

Shepard picked off a pass and laid it in to open the second-half scoring, and Terpstra followed it up with two three-pointers to give the Sabercats a 10-point lead early in the second half.

While the Archers stayed alive with sparse points, the shots kept falling for MBU. Terpstra extended his total to 23, and Clayton Morrison posted four points in five seconds after a steal from Kiandrecus Broussard set Morrison up for an encore layup. With 10 minutes minutes left, the Sabercats had a 10-point lead.

The Archers showed resolve, as Moody threatened MBU multiple times by pulling to within seven points of the lead. The Sabercats showed steely resolve in reply, and effectively executed their offensive game. Wes Wagner came up big when he grabbed an offensive board and banked in the second chance to extend MBU's lead to 14 with just over six minutes on the clock.

The Archers then pulled an unprecedented comeback run and came back to within two points of MBU with 2:45 on the clock, triggering a wild finish to the title game.

Moody's All-Region selections Trey Frank and Josh Wedeven's veteran prowess proved to be difference-makers in the end, as the duo - who combined for 58 points on the night - teamed up for the Archers' final 20 points in the last six minutes. 

When Frank hit a three-pointer with 42 seconds on the clock, the Archers had an unlikely three-point lead. 

Terpstra then showed his four-year poise, and hit his most important three of the game to tie it at 74 with 29 seconds on the clock. 

Frank and the Archers had the final say with a layup with just three seconds left. After a timeout, the Sabercats could not connect on the final play of the game, seeing their title hopes end with the sound of the buzzer.

"I'm very proud of our guys to get to the region championship," said coach Keith Salscheider after the game. "But tonight, all the credit goes to Moody - when push came to shove, they followed their game plan a little bit better than we did. We felt like we had the game right where we wanted it, but we went away from our game plan. That's something we will need to improve on in years to come.

"I want to thank all of our guys for the tremendous effort they gave each other, the coaches, the team, and Maranatha Baptist University this season. We had our struggles, and we really fought through a lot of adversity - more than the average adversity for a season. We came out of it with a chance to go to Nationals, and we congratulate Moody and wish them all the best in representing our region."

With the win, the Archers earn their place at the 2017 NCCAA DII National Tournament hosted by Faith Baptist Bible College in Ankeny, Iowa March 9-11.