Watertown, WI - The Martin Luther College men's basketball team played a road contest at Maranatha Baptist in front of many MLC fans in Watertown. The Knights put together their best 40 minutes of basketball on the season and defeated the Sabercats 76-58.

    The two squads played a thriller two weeks ago in New Ulm, where the Knights secured their first win of the season 59-54. On Tuesday evening, MLC took an early punch from the Sabercats, but would take their first lead after a Sam Hansen 3-pointer with 11:31 in the first half to make it 17-15. Both teams would take hold of the lead following that point, but MLC would go into the locker room up 37-32 after Micah Kieselhorst connected on a 3-pointer from the top of the key.

    MLC shot the ball well from the field in the first half, shooting 40 percent and found some rhythm from beyond the perimeter going 6-of-16 (37.5 percent).

    To start the second half, MLC moved the ball well in the half court and would extend their halftime lead to 49-38 at the 13:37 mark with a Kieselhorst layup. The Knights then went on to control the tempo of the game and forced Maranatha Baptist into contested shots the rest of the game. The Sabercats would shoot only 27.59 percent from the field in the second half and the backcourt for MLC forced them into may turnovers. The Knights' collective effort on both ends of the court gave them the edge and they would cruise to the double-digit victory.

Kieselhorst led MLC in scoring with 16 points and also grabbed eight rebounds. More impressively, the forward had four blocks on the night, making it very difficult for the Sabercats to get decent shots off in the lane. Ezra Blumer finished with 11 points, five rebounds, and three steals to give the Knights an added contribution.

MLC (2-15, 0-7) will head back home to face Bethany on Parent's Day for a 3 p.m. tipoff on Saturday, January 28th.