WATERTOWN, Wis. --- To open the season, the Sabercats squared off against the Emmaus Bible College Eagles, who showed they were up for the challenge by pulling off a 74-66 win over the Sabercats. MBU could not shake the misfires on offense

The Basics

• Result: Sabercats 66-74 Eagles
• Venue: Maranatha Baptist University
• Attendance: 433
• Sabercats: now 0-1 Eagles: now 2-3

How it Happened

• 1st Half
  • The Eagles announced their winning intentions early by maintaining more or less of a 10-point lead in the early goings. The Eagles' offense was precise and varied while their defense was active to disrupt the Sabercats' rhythm.
  • The Sabercats' offense seemed rushed, and whenever the Sabercats did execute, the Eagles promptly answered with points of their own. 
  • A three-pointer from Tyree Bearden finally made it a two-possession game with less than five minutes to play, but the Eagles answered seconds later with a lay-in from Elijah Reeves.
  • After the ensuing time-out, a highlight play came with a stiff block from Clayton Morrison followed by a fast-break jam from Richard Medina, which brought the crowd to its feet and the momentum back in the Sabercats' favor.
  • The Sabercats slowly chipped away at the Eagles' lead and cut it to five points with less than `0 seconds on the clock, but a buzzer-beater three from the Eagles restored the visitors' lead to eight entering the break (30-38)
  • The Sabercats had nine different players record point in the first half.
• 2nd Half
  • It was anything but a fast start to the second half, as the Eagles outscored the Sabercats just 6-2 in the opening five minutes.
  • The Sabercats' offense began to turn the ball over and the Eagles capitalized by increasing their lead to 51-36 with 13 minutes left, forcing Keith Salscheider into a timeout.
  • After the timeout the Sabercats quickly registered four points through a Morrison layup and Matt Gill's double from the charity stripe (40-51)
  • A three from Micah Shepard reduced the Eagles' lead to single digits since that opening second-half standoff (43-52)
  • After an Eagle timeout, the Sabercats sparked to life when Zach Terpstra and Wes Wagner notched points in the paint to cut the lead to five with under nine minutes on the clock (49-54)
  • The Eagles managed to evade the Sabercats' press to stay in the lead, and would manage to increase that lead despite scattered points from Medina, Bearden, and Terpstra. With five minutes left on the clock, the visitors were up 64-58.
  • The Sabercats put in a spirited effort to even the score late on, but would be just off the mark in terms of turnovers and shooting. In the closing stretches, the Eagles maintained their lead and closed out an eight-point win (66-74)

From Coach Keith

• "Emmaus deserve the win. They came in and they were intense and focused, and they executed more often than we did. We had some first game jitters and they have played four games already, so their poise and experience showed a lot more than ours did. They kept us on edge and unfortunately we were not able to recover."

Up Next

• The Sabercats travel to Bethany Lutheran College in Mankato, Minn. to play at 6:00 PM this Friday, November 18th.
• You can watch the game live at this location courtesy of Bethany Lutheran Athletic Communications.