Cold second half dooms MLC against MBU
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NEW ULM -- Author Charles Dickens wrote the classic novel "A Tale of Two Cities". Maranatha Baptist University and the Martin Luther College men's basketball teams wrote its own chapter titled "A Tale of Two Halves" in the Knights 62-53 nonconference loss on Saturday.
MLC "won" the first half (27-22) but it "lost" the second half (40-26). Credit the Sabercats' physical and scrappy defense for part of why Maranatha won the contest.
"We haven't found our rhythm," MLC head coach Greg Holzhueter said. "Our shots didn't drop, but we have to run our offense, persevere and the ball will drop."
The Knights were 19 of 70 for 27.1 percent in field goals. They were 6 of 23 for 26.1 percent from 3-point range and 9 of 12 for 75 percent from the free-throw line. These were totals for the entire game.
Maranatha was 9 for 33 for 27.3 in the first half and 16 for 33 in the second half for 48.5 percent in field goals. MLC was 11 for 37 for 29.7 percent in the first half in field goals and 8 for 33 for 24.2 percent in the second half.
Ian Paulsen's second-chance basket regained the lead for the Knights at 6-5. Richard Eckmann nailed a 3-point shot and Josh Tomlin added a basket for an early 11-5 MLC lead.
Maranatha's Matt Gill made two free throws, David Lerma hit a basket, Justin Blake scored on a layup and Lerma drilled in a 3-point shot to knot it up at 20-apiece.
Eckmann made a basket, was fouled and he made the free throw to regain the lead for the Knights. CJ Jones answered with a basket to trim MLC's advantage. Paulsen scored and Eckmann's shot before the buzzer gave MLC the halftime lead.
Early in the second half, Maranatha's Gill dropped in a 3-point shot to tie it at 29-each. Jonathan Book scored the Sabercats' next 6 points with two layups and one put-back basket to give them the lead that they would not give up for the rest of the contest.
Maranatha went on another run with a 3-point shot by Lerma from the left side of the arc. Gill and Rob Sonnenberg scored the next 2 points for a 44-34 Sabercat lead.
Gill scored a basket, was fouled and he made the free throw. The next time down the floor, Gill scored on a layup. Book scored a fast-break layup to make it 60-44 Sabercats. Lerma scored the final 2 points for Maranatha. Joseph Hirsch hit a 3-pointer and Jacob Price hit two free throws to close out the scoring.
Paulsen led MLC with 13 points, 10 rebounds, five blocks and three assists. Eckmann added 12 points and nine rebounds.
"The guys had a lot of good effort on the floor tonight," Holzhueter said.
MLC (5-8) will travel to play at the University of Minnesota-Morris on Wednesday.