January 11, 2022 | by Taylor Pill

LEAD

NEW ULM, Minn. -- The Sabercats took a 59-79 loss to the Martin Luther College Knights tonight, falling in their second game in as many days.

Jed Mayhak put up 22 points to lead Maranatha, who looked like a different team in the second half, but the first-half deficit was too much to overcome.

OVERVIEW

• Result: Maranatha 59-79 Martin Luther
• Venue: Luther Student Center, Martin Luther College
• Location: Plymouth, Minn.
• Attendance: 137
• Records: MBU (1-13), MLC (2-11)

STORY

The Knights were one step quicker in the first half, as they smothered the Sabercats with 52 points while Maranatha put up just 21. Martin Luther forced 15 turnovers and grabbed nine offensive rebounds, resulting in almost 20 more shots from the floor in the first half alone. 

Going into the halftime break, the Sabercats needed a breather and new life.

Mayhak did his best to provide it, leading Maranatha with 13 points in the second half as the Sabercats out-scored the Knights 38-27. But the damage done in that first half was too much to come back from, as the Sabercats could only come back to within 20 by the sound of the final horn.

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Maranatha Starters: 3- Mayhak, 15- Davis, 20- Cooper, 21- Moultrie, 24- Herbster // Trinity starters: 2- Phillips, 3- Bolden, 12- Stoughton, 20- Mencarini, 23- Molan

SOUND BITE

"We're searching for answers right now and we're just not playing the way we want to play," said Coach Joel Borchardt after the game. "We came out sluggish and [Martin Luther] came out really aggressively throughout that first half and they got comfortable offensively. That made a huge problem for us, and we just allowed them to do whatever they wanted offensively. We came out really well in the second half, and that wasn't enough, but we did what we needed to do to bring ourselves back into the game. It was good to see the progress from the first half to the second half, but now we just need to put a full game together. I know we can, we just need to mentally bring ourselves together and find a way to win."

STATS

• Mayhak: 22 PTS, 1 REB, 1 STL
• Caleb Moultrie: 9 PTS, 7 REB, 4 AST
• Malachi Herbster: 8 PTS, 8 REB
• Joseph Hirsch: 18 PTS for Martin Luther
• Last time: Maranatha lost 80-72 at Martin Luther in December of 2019
• Series: Martin Luther now leads the all-time series 7-5

OPPONENTS

• Martin Luther competes in the Upper Midwest Athletic Conference (NCAA DIII)
• Martin Luther finished the shortened 2020-21 season with a 2-11 record and a first-round loss in the UMAC Tournament

NEXT

The Sabercats will return home next Saturday for a 4:00 p.m. tipoff against Finlandia. Follow at mbusabercats.com/schedule.