December 11, 2021 | by Nate Croswell

LEAD

ANKENY, IOWA -- The Sabercats fall to Faith in OT by a score of 84-74, finishing the weekend at the Christmas tournament with a 1-1 record.

In the loss, Malachi Herbster achieved his first career double-double with career-highs in points (15) and rebounds (14), and Aaron Sanders dropped a season-high 16 points.

OVERVIEW

• Result: Maranatha 74-84 Faith (OT)
• Venue: Nettleton Center, Faith Baptist Bible College
• Location: Ankeny, Iowa
• Event: Faith Christmas Classic
• Attendance: 212
• Records: MBU (1-10), FBBC (3-4)

STORY

After getting their first win of the season on Friday night, the Sabercats came into today's game against Faith with momentum. Unfortunately, the Eagles knew they needed to play hard, as they kept the game close all the way. The first half started with Maranatha going up by five with a 13-8 lead after five minutes, but Faith fought back and kept the game within five points the entire half. The game was so tightly contested that the score remained 30-26 for nearly three minutes late in the first half. With 11 points from Malachi Herbster, nine points from Aaron Sanders, and eight boards for Josh Davis, the Sabercats led by two at halftime, 35-33.

The second half remained much of the same story. The game remained within five for almost ten minutes before the Sabercats reached a seven-point lead at 11:15 remaining. Faith would end up tying the game at about five minutes remaining, but Maranatha built the lead back up to five points with just 37 seconds left. At that point, Faith rallied again and tied the game with four seconds left, and the game went into overtime. Davis helped keep the Sabercats in the game with nine points in the half, while Caleb Moultrie dropped seven points and Herbster grabbed nine rebounds.

The overtime period started even, just like the full halves before it. The game remained tied 69-69 for nearly the first full minute. Then Faith started scoring at 3:39 remaining and didn't stop, scoring eight unanswered points before the Sabercats could score again, and then kept scoring until the buzzer went off, resulting in an 84-74 win for the Eagles.

In the loss, Aaron Sanders led the Sabercats in scoring with a season-high 16 points. More impressively, Malachi Herbster tallied his first career double-double, dropping a career-high 15 points and grabbing a career-high 14 rebounds.

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Maranatha Starters: 3- Mayhak, 5- Sanders, 15- Davis, 21- Moultrie, 24- Herbster // Faith starters: 3- Brown, 5- Goergen, 12- Pearson, 15- Sidlinger, 44- Boyer

STATS

• Sanders: 16 PTS, 4 REB, 3 AST
• Herbster: Career-high 15 PTS, Career-high 14 REB, 3 BLK
• Moultrie: 10 PTS
• Davis: 10 PTS, 12 REB
• MBU: 40.3% FG
• FBBC: 33.7% FG
• Last time: Maranatha defeated Faith 81-54 on December 12, 2020 
• Series: Maranatha leads the all-time series against Faith 8-2

OPPONENTS

• Faith, Maranatha's North region rival, competes in the Midwest Christian Collegiate Conference
• Faith has a young roster with just one upperclassman

NEXT

The Sabercats will host Welch College on Tuesday at 7:00 p.m. in their final game before Christmas break. Follow along at mbusabercats.com/schedule.