WATERTOWN, Wis. - The Martin Luther College men's basketball team was unable to hold onto a big second half lead in an 82-76 loss at Maranatha Baptist University on Saturday.

MLC built a 39-30 halftime lead, and raced out of the locker room to push that advantage to 18 points (55-37) with 13 minutes remaining.

The Sabercats hung within striking distance, but the Knights still held a 66-56 lead with 5:31 to play following an Austin DeNoyer jump shot.

MBU made its run from there, however, scoring on seven consecutive possessions while also frustrating the Knights with a full-court press that forced several turnovers. MLC had a chance down the stretch and trailed by only two points in the final minute, but the Sabercats put the game away at the free throw line to score the comeback win.

MLC built its big lead with the help of 20 MBU turnovers, 14 of which came in the first half. The Sabercats shot 50.0 percent from the field in both halves, but shot 8-12 from beyond the three-point arc in the second half after shooting 2-10 in the first half. 

Jack Heichelbech had a big performance in his return to Watertown. The LPS grad scored a career-high 27 points on 10-12 shooting from the field (3-4 from three-point range) to go with five rebounds. 

DeNoyer added 18 points off the bench for MLC.

The Knights fell to 7-16 on the season in defeat, while MBU improved to 11-9 with the win.

MLC will return to UMAC play on Wednesday, February 13, when they travel to Crown College for a game scheduled to start at 7:15 p.m.