January 10, 2023 | by Taylor Pill

LEAD

NEW ULM, Minn. -- In a nail-biter from start to finish, the Sabercats saw a narrow lead ultimately change hands to the pernicious Martin Luther College Knights, who defended their home floor 59-54 in a wild Division III matchup.

Caleb Moultrie and Malachi Herbster led Maranatha with 15 and 14 points, respectively, while Goodnews Akonofua chipped in six points and a career-high 12 rebounds in the tough loss.

OVERVIEW

• Result: Maranatha 54-59 Martin Luther
• Venue: Luther Student Center - Martin Luther College
• Location: New Ulm, Minn.
• Attendance: 100
• Records: MBU (2-11), MLC (1-11)

STORY 

Maranatha was the better team right out of the gate, as Herbster capped off a 15-7 game-starting run with a precise jumper at the 10:23 mark. So far, so good for the men in Blue. 

But the Knights began to punish the Sabercats for consecutive misses, as the Knights fought back, changing the momentum and forcing coach Rob Fuller to call a timeout with the score at 18-15 Maranatha.

That momentum shift would characterize the rest of the night, as the Knights took their first lead of the game with just under two minutes to play in the first half. When all was said and done, the Sabercats went into halftime trailing 28-30.

At the break, Herbster led Maranatha with 10 points.

The lead would ultimately change hands seven times in the second half alone, and it ended up being a painful finish for the Sabercats, who held a nine-point lead at the 11-minute mark. But those nine points stood as the biggest gap for anyone in the close-knit contest, as the two teams went toe-to-toe for the entire 40 minutes. Martin Luther was hungry on their offensive end, putting up 21 second-chance points on the night to maintain momentum just when they needed it.

The Sabercats created chances to put the game on ice, but the shots just didn't want to fall as the game wore on. Turnovers showed up without an invitation in the final five minutes, and the Knights rode the energy inside the Luther Student Center to hit a couple of three-point shots in the final two minutes to edge the Sabercats right at the finish.

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Maranatha Starters: 12- Mertes, 15- Davis, 21- Moultrie, 24- Herbster, 35- Akonofua

STATS

• Box Score
• MBU: 39.2 FG%
• MLC: 29.3 FG%
• Offensive Rebounds: MBU 12-20 MLC
• MLC: 21 second-chance points
• Last time: Maranatha fell to Martin Luther 96-63 on January 29, 2022
• Series: Maranatha trails the all-time series against Martin Luther 5-9

OPPONENTS

• Martin Luther competes in the Upper Midwest Athletic Conference (NCAA DIII)
• Martin Luther finished the '21-'22 season with a 5-21 record
• Martin Luther finished last season with a first-round UMAC Tournament loss to Northwestern (78-112)

NEXT

The Sabercats will travel to Hancock, Michigan, where they will take on Finlandia University on Thursday, January 12th at 7 p.m. (EST) Follow at mbusabercats.com/schedule.