LEAD

WATERTOWN, Wis. -- The Sabercats had their hands full against the fifth-ranked team in the NCCAA, taking a 33-point loss to Grace Christian University in the Midwest Region regular season.

Noah Jensen led the Sabercats with 15 points and 17 rebounds. With the win, Grace improves to 11-12 overall and 4-1 in the Midwest; the Sabercats fall to 3-13 and 1-3 in the Midwest.

OVERVIEW

• Result: Maranatha 63-96 Grace
• Venue: MBU Gymnasium - Maranatha Baptist University
• Location: Watertown, Wis.
• Event: NCCAA Midwest Region - Regular Season
• Attendance: -
• Records: MBU (3-13), GCU (9-12)

STORY
The Tigers worked it low to get the game started, leaping out to a 13-2 lead in the opening three minutes. There seemed to be no way through the Tigers' defense, as the Sabercats had to wait almost 10 minutes to score their 10th point.
Ty Thiel was leading the way for the Tigers, putting up 13 points. Jensen was leading the Sabercats at the break with nine.

After the first act, the Tigers had been smart with their shot selection, hitting over 60 percent of their looks while contesting the Sabercats'. Maranatha shot just 35.3 percent from the floor and went just 2-11 from downtown in the opening 20 minutes.

After a 49-28 halftime lead, the Tigers were confident, and they maintained their high-energy defense to force 15 turnovers out of the Sabercats in the second half alone. Maranatha could only reduce the deficit in the second half from 21 to 12 points, as the Tigers ran away with the spoils in the hard-fought NCCAA matchup.
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Maranatha Starters: 2-Cox, 12-Jensen, 21-Moultrie, 24-Gingery, 33-Mertes

STATS

• MBU: shot 35.7 percent from the field
• GCU: shot 52.6 percent from the field
• Last time: Maranatha fell 67-96 against Grace on Feb. 18, 2023
• Series: Maranatha trails the all-time series 10-27

OPPONENTS

• Grace Christian competes in the NCCAA Midwest Region along with Maranatha
• Grace Christian finished the '22-23 season with a 15-16 record
• Grace Christian fell last season in the NCCAA Mideast regional semifinals

NEXT

The Sabercats stay in Watertown to take on Moody Bible in another NCCAA Midwest region match-up on Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. Follow at mbusabercats.com/schedule.