NEW ULM, Minn. - The Martin Luther College men's basketball team earned its first win of the season by the score of 75-74 over Maranatha Baptist on Saturday.

The teams were tied 74-74 with 1.7 seconds on the clock when the Knights' Jeffrey Parker was fouled on an inbounds play, giving him a pair of free throws. He made the first to give the Knights the lead, and the defense was able to hold the Sabercats without a shot in the final second to secure the win.

MLC trailed 38-35 at the break, and fell behind by as many as nine points early in the second half, but roared back thanks to a 14-2 run to take a 54-49 lead with 11:29 to play.

The Sabercats responded with a run of their own, but the Knights rode the hot hand of T.J. Babinec, who made four three-pointers in the second half, including one that gave the Knights a 74-72 lead with 13 seconds remaining.

MBU's Micah Shepard made a layup to tie the game at 74-74 with 1.7 seconds to play, but the Sabercats' Rob Sonnenberg ran through a screening Parker near the baseline, sending him to the line for the winning point.

The Knights shot 56.9 percent from the floor, including a 52.6 percent mark from beyond the three point arc. 

The bench was came up big for MLC, with Luke Rothe, Babinec and Parker leading the reserve group with 15, 13 and 13 points, respectively. Overall, the MLC bench outscored the Sabercats' reserves 54-34.

Ian Paulsen led the Knights with 18 points (on 8-11 shooting) to go with eight rebounds, five assists, four blocks and three steals. Babinec finished with 13 points, while Rothe added a team-high seven assists and two steals to go with his 15 points.

MLC improved to 1-2 on the season with the win, while MBU fell to 0-3 in defeat.

The Knights will return to action on Tuesday, November 22, when they travel to Bethel for a game scheduled to tip off at 7:30 p.m.