November 20, 2021 | by Taylor Pill

LEAD

WATERTOWN, Wis. -- A cold start froze the Sabercats in their North Region opener today, as they fall hard at home to Emmaus Bible College by a 60-79 scoreline.

Steven Petkau put up 31 points for the Eagles while Caleb Moultrie led Maranatha with 15 points. The loss moves the Sabercats to 0-7 on the season and 0-1 in North Region play going into Thanksgiving Break.

OVERVIEW

• Result: Maranatha 60-79 Emmaus
• Venue: Maranatha Baptist University
• Location: Watertown, Wis.
• Attendance: 70
• Records: MBU (0-7), EBC (1-6) 

STORY

Turnovers, rushed shots, and missed threes plagued the Sabercats early in the North Region clash, as the Eagles jumped out to an early lead and never looked back. The first half was all about Petkau and Nashon Harper, who tallied 17 and 10 points, respectively, keeping the Sabercats on the back foot.

Maranatha couldn't generate any sort of rhythm offensively, shooting just 2-13 from downtown and 9-34 from the floor. The Eagles pulled away as the halftime horn loomed, spreading their advantage to 41-24 going into the break.

Justus Morrison scored his first career points by draining a couple of free throws late, and Noah Jensen put up a career-high 10 from off the bench. Maranatha got warm from outside the arc in the second half, but they never really became a major threat. A Mike Mertes three-pointer cut the Emmaus lead to 12, but that was as close as Maranatha could come. Petkau stayed hot, Maranatha couldn't find their zone, and the Eagles rolled away from Watertown with a 19-point win to send the winless Sabercats into Thanksgiving Break looking for answers.

"To lose the last game before Thanksgiving break...and anytime you lose at home is pretty frustrating," said Coach Joel Borchardt. "Especially against a team we knew we could compete with coming in, and we just didn't bring enough coming into tonight. It hurts a little more doing it on our home court and doing it right before the break. But we're hoping to get all our guys back one hundred percent after the break, and keep looking to get better and push ourselves to be better every single day."

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Maranatha Starters: 3- Mayhak, 5- Sanders, 15- Davis, 21- Moultrie, 23- Rodriguez // Emmaus starters: 1- Petkau, 11- Patterson, 14- Cerwinske, 22- Harper, 23- Buckner

STATS

• Moultrie: 15 PTS, 3 REB, 2 AST
• Jed Mayhak: 12 PTS, 3 REB, 1 STL
• Aaron Sanders: 11 PTS, 3 REB, 1 AST, 2 STL
• MBU: 30.6 FG%
• EBC: 43.3 3PT%
• Last time: Maranatha defeated Emmaus 79-73 on February 8, 2021 
• Series: Maranatha leads the all-time series against Emmaus 33-5 

OPPONENTS

• Emmaus competes with Maranatha in the NCCAA DII North Region
• Emmaus also competes in the Midwest Christian College Conference

NEXT

The Sabercats head to Minnesota after Thanksgiving break to take on North Central on December 3 at 5:00 p.m. Follow along at mbusabercats.com/schedule.