Box Score: MBBC 54, CUW 53

WATERTOWN, Wis. -- Maranatha Baptist Bible College scored the game's final seven points, the last two with seven seconds remaining to defeat a startled Concordia University Wisconsin contingent 54-53 in the first game of Saturday's doubleheader.

CUW led 30-22 at the break before the game of "runs" began. CUW senior Kendall Kerns (Stoughton, Wis.) had 13 points by halftime.

The hometown Crusaders outscored the Falcons 25-7 over the first 11 minutes of the second half, however, to take a 45-37 lead.

Then it was CUW's turn as it rattled off 14 straight points and appeared to have taken control at 53-47, with just over a minute remaining.

That's when things fell apart.

The Crusader's Laci Peterson hit a 3-pointer that made it 53-50 with 59 seconds remaining in the game. CUW turned the ball over twice in the closing minute, the first coming when a Falcon player was called for stepping out of bounds with 35 seconds left.

Kristen Morrison's ensuing layup with 17 seconds to play cut the MBBC deficit to a single point. The second turnover came with 12 reamining on the clock via an errant pass in the back court. Peterson's layup with eight seconds left gave the Crusaders the final margin before CUW missed a short jumper before the clock ran out.

Poor shooting hurt the Falcons once again as they managed to connect on only 32 percent from the field compared to 43 percent for MBBC. Kerns led CUW with 22 points, but no other Falcon reached double figures. Peterson paced the Crusaders with 19 points.

After heading into last week hoping to earn a share of the Northern Athletics Conference regular season title, head coach Stacey Brunner-Jones' team will have a week to regroup from three straight losses by a total of just 11 points. The NAC challenge game will take place on Feb. 18.