THE OVERVIEW

• Result: Maranatha 60-70 Illinois Tech
• Location: Maranatha Baptist University
• Attendance: 375
• Record: Sabercats are now 9-10
• Next Game for MBU: Saturday, Feb. 3 at 7 p.m. vs Silver Lake

THE LEAD

WATERTOWN, Wis. -- The Sabercats showed some promise tonight against a talented IIT squad, but their recent trend continued - MBU was held to 60 points in a hard-fought loss.

This was the second time in as many weeks that the Sabercats dropped the contest to the Scarlet Hawks. David Lerma led the Sabercats with 17 points while Matt Gill recorded 10 points and 5 boards.

THE STORY

Jonathan Book was at the hub to get the game going for the Sabercats early on. A bucket and 2 assists from the quick junior put the Sabercats ahead after the opening 5 minutes. The heads-up play from Book was backed up by some hard-nosed finishes in the paint from Matt Gill, who set the tone on offense by scoring 6 points in the opening 10 minutes.

The Sabercats stayed in control of the first half and maintained the lead until the final two minutes when IIT's Max Hisatake (who led everyone with 22 points on the night) made a layup to push the Scarlet Hawks ahead by 1. Hisatake's bucket was part of a game-changing 15-3 run that the visitors concocted over the final 4 minutes of the half.

At halftime, the lead had changed hands. IIT was ahead 35-30.

Justin Blake produced a crowd-pleasing moment in the second half's opening minutes. The big man weaseled his way out of pressure in the Sabercats' defensive end and went coast-to-coast for a smooth bucket. But in the opening stages of the half, the Scarlet Hawks began to pull away. A hard-working IIT defensive unit forced the Sabercats' hands, causing some impatient turnovers and missed chances that would have been connected on any other night.

A big three-point play from Stephen Wilkerson gave the Sabercats a little life for a short time, but MBU stayed in grind mode - they couldn't settle into a rhythm and continued to cough the ball up. Turnovers in key areas meant that the Sabercats stayed at 60 points for the night - a mark that has been about their average for the last 4 games. At the other end of the court, an alert IIT offense picked up 16 offensive boards and scored 17 second-chance points on the night.

At the sound of the horn, the Sabercats were handed their fourth consecutive loss, as they continue to be just off of their mark during a rigid mid-season schedule.

THE NUMBERS

The scores from each half were identical.

This was Lerma's 14th game in double figures this season.

IIT had 3 players in double figures.

The Sabercats shot 52.2 percent from the floor.

IIT recorded 16 points from the free throw line. MBU went 8-14 from the charity stripe.

IIT now leads the all-time series at 4-5.

THE SOUND BITE

"We want to give Coach Kelly and his team credit - they came out and played well," said Associate Head Coach Joel Borchardt after the game. "I thought we played well as well. We just didn't seem to get things together in the second half. And when you give up 16 offensive rebounds, it hurts. We are working on limiting our turnovers and on getting more defensive rebounds. We are looking forward to playing again on Saturday and we'll hopefully bring out a win."

THE CALENDAR

The Sabercats will complete their 3-game home stand with a 7 p.m. game Saturday against Silver Lake College. The all-time series stands at 3-3, and the last time the two teams met was Feb. 9, 2017, when MBU came away with 72-62 win.

Catch the details at mbusabercats.com/composite.