THE OVERVIEW

• Result: Maranatha 63-64 Luther
• Location: Luther College Regents Center
• Attendance: 150
• Record: Sabercats are now 9-8
• Next Game for MBU: Tuesday, Jan. 30 at 7 p.m. vs Northland

THE LEAD

DECORAH, Iowa -- After trailing for virtually the entire second half, the Sabercats almost pulled off a hard-earned comeback at Luther College.

This was the second defensive battle in a row for MBU, as a low-60's score won Thursday night's game at IIT. Micah Shepard tried to rally the Sabercats late on and finished the night with 20 points to lead the scoring for Maranatha.

THE STORY

MBU called the shots early on. Through the opening minutes, 8 points from David Lerma and 6 from Jonathan Book put the Sabercats in the driver's seat at 20-12. A pair of Matt Gill free throws at the 9-minute mark pushed the lead out to 9 points, which was the largest lead that the Sabercats would hold on the night. 

The 9-point deficit seemed to light a fire under the Norse, who steadily chipped away at the Sabercats' lead over the next few minutes.The hosts' persistence was rewarded when James Kappus connected a 3-pointer to put Luther up by 3 points. Two late buckets from Luther gave them a 36-29 lead going into halftime.

In the second half, a trademark 3-point jumper from Shepard brought the Sabercats to within 2 points of the Norse, but the hosts found the answers to the Sabercats' tenacity. Luther eventually secured a 13-point cushion at the 8:45 mark, and looked to be heading for a pull-away win.

But Shepard and the Sabercats would not go down without a fight. Over the next minute and a half, Shepard posted 8 points to keep the Norse within reach. Four more points from the senior gave the Sabercats their first lead since the first half, as they found themselves up 61-60 with 2:00 on the clock.

In a nervy final minute and a half, the Norse did just enough to hold the Sabercats off. A Jared Nicolaisen jump shot and 2 free throws from Kappus off-set 2 foul shots from Shepard. When the Sabercats did not connect their shot at the horn, the Norse secured the win in the evenly-matched defensive clash.

THE NUMBERS

This was Shepard's fifth game this season with 20 points or more.

Book finished with 14 points and Lerma logged 10.

Nicolaisen and Kappus led the Norse with 20 and 19 points, respectively.

This was the first-ever meeting between the teams.

THE SOUND BITE

"This was a game that we could've easily won, and we just didn't quite come ready to play mentally and physically," said Coach Keith Salscheider. "We didn't have the discipline to stick to our game plan, and in a one-point game there are a lot of mistakes that cost us, and we've just got to be able to play harder in each possession. We've made improvements, but our opponents are growing as well. We need to keep working hard in order to stay ahead of them."

THE CALENDAR

The Sabercats will return to their home floor for a 7 p.m. game this coming Tuesday against Northland College. Catch the details at mbusabercats.com/composite.