NEW ULM — The Martin Luther College men’s basketball team scored a big win at home over Maranatha Baptist by the score of 80-72 on Saturday.

After a back-and-forth start, the Knights took the lead four minutes into the first half and never looked trailed again, but the Sabercats made them work until the final buzzer.

MLC jumped out to a 43-32 halftime lead thanks to 10 first-half points by Joseph Hirsch. The Knights made seven of 17 attempts from beyond the arc in the first half, and also forced the Sabercats to shoot just 39.4 percent from the field.

The Knights continued to lead comfortably in the second half, but could not pull away as the Sabercats kept the deficit between four and 10 points for much of the half. MBU finally cut the MLC lead to two (65-63) with five minutes to play, but the Knights’ defense pushed them to the finish line to secure the win.

MLC finished the game shooting 37.3 percent overall and missed all eight attempts from beyond the three-point arc in the second half, but forced 21 MBU turnovers that led to 21 points on the other end.

The Knights’ depth also came up big, as the MLC bench out-scored the Sabercats’ reserves 41-13. Austin DeNoyer and Caleb Westra each scored 12 off the bench for the Knights, while Jonathan Riebe added 11 points.

Jack Heichelbech led MLC with 15 points, while Hirsch finished with 12 points.

MLC improved to 2-5 on the season with the win. MBU fell to 2-5 in defeat.

The Knights will return to action tomorrow (Sunday, December 15) when they host Marian in a game scheduled to tip off at 4:30 p.m.