The Maranatha Christian Academy Mustangs avenged an earlier season loss Saturday, December 29th by defeating the Omaha Lightning 46-44 in Randall. Omaha started a mixed team of Varsity and Junior Varsity players against Maranatha. The game was close early on, then the visitors from Omaha began to pull away, leading 23-15 at halftime. Extending their lead early in the third period, Omaha took a double digit lead, 29-17.
Coach Nickerson then made some strategic shifts in the offense and the Mustangs went on a 14 point run, moving ahead 31-29. With the winner in doubt until the final seconds, Maranatha prevailed as a last second desperation shot by Lightning fell short.
In a game where every point contributed to the win, the leading scorers for Maranatha were Michael Carney with 22 points, Ian Nichols with 11, and Sam Long with eight. Zach Sloter added three and Matt Bruce put in two to round out the scoring for the Mustangs. The leading rebounders were Sam Long with nine, Zach Sloter with eight, and Brandon Windus and Joe Long with seven each.
The win was the first ever for Coach Nickerson against Lightning. Nickerson said, "These boys defeated a very good team. This is probably the best team they will play all year in the regular season." With the win, Maranatha remains undefeated at home. In the first game of the year in Omaha, the Omaha Lightning had defeated Maranatha 40-30. Several Maranatha starters were unable to travel to Omaha for that game. Maranatha Christian Academy is a private, non-demoninational Christian school in Ames, Iowa.
Its good! Michael Carney shoots for two as Ian Nichols positions himself under the basket for a rebound.
Carney and Nichols combined for 33 points to lead the Maranatha Mustangs to a 46-44 victory.