Posted: May 12, 2022

Men's Basketball 2021-22 Wrapup

May 12, 2022 | by Taylor Pill

WATERTOWN, Wis. -- At the semester's-end post-season Athletic Awards Assembly, head coach Joel Borchardt named the final awards and reflected on the 2021-22 campaign, which was the last of his six-year coaching career at Maranatha.

Borchardt paves the way for newly commissioned head coach, Rob Fuller, to step in at the start of next season. But before next season, it's time to take a look back at a challenging 2021-22 campaign - one that had its fair share of ups and downs.

Starting the season with nine consecutive losses wasn't exactly Plan A going in, but the Sabercats course-corrected through the middle of the season, posting four regular-season North Region wins going into the highly anticipated North Region Tournament at home.

Going in, the Sabercats were given a tall order of having to win four games in four days as the eighth seed to capture the North Region title. But they had been gaining momentum as a team, so the title was theirs for the taking. An electric 73-65 win over a tough Moody Bible Institute squad gave the Sabercats new belief as they matched up against the #1-seeded Trinity Bible College Lions in the first round.

It seemed like most of the student body was in the gym for that first-round game, as the students' section made their voices heard. The atmosphere in the gym combined with the energy of the win from the night before, and the Sabercats had some powerful underdog vibes that night, and they erased a 10-point halftime deficit to force overtime.

But in those five minutes, the magic finally wore off. Trinity edged Maranatha 67-64 to give the Sabercats a bitter way to end the season.

Despite the losses, the Sabercats had a number of individual awards to celebrate.

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AWARDS

The team awards from Coach Borchardt were as follows:

Most Improved - Dylan Woodward

Coach's Award - Justus Morrison

Most Valuable - Caleb Moultrie

Awards from the NCCAA National Office were as follows:

NCCAA All-Region - Aaron Sanders (3rd Team), Brenden Caldwell (Honorable Mention), Jed Mayhak (Honorable Mention)

Scholar-Athlete - Malachi Herbster, Jed Mayhak

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