Saturday afternoon, the now 15-5 (4-0 MCCAA) Kalamazoo Valley Cougars visited your Marian University Ancilla Chargers, and a battle was expected. The Chargers were doing their best to match the Cougars throughout the first half, as they trailed by just a 19-15 margin with 7:11 left in the first half. From that point, however, MUAC was outscored 25-13 heading into the locker room at halftime.
The second half saw the Cougars continue to battle, and they even won the second half by a point, however that late first half run, coupled with an 18-12 turnover deficit, ultimately caught up to the Chargers as they fell to 2-1 in the MCCAA and 10-7 overall on the season, losing to Kalamazoo Valley, 81-66.
Freshman forward Jayden Sanders had another nice game for the Chargers, scoring 17 points and collecting 8 rebounds. Freshman guard Marcellous Boyd and Sophomore guard Willie Reece each scored 11 points, while Boyd added 8 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals, and 2 blocked shots, and Reece chipped in 6 rebounds of his own.
Kalamazoo Valley got a nice outing from Joe Liedel, who scored 24 points on 9-15 shooting, including 4-8 from deep. Liedel added 8 rebounds to his tally. Jaylin Fox (17 points) and Ashton Atwater (13 points) were also double-digit scoring contributors. Fox tied Liedel for the team lead with 8 rebounds, and Atwater topped the Cougars with 6 assists.
The MUAC Chargers are back in action tomorrow when they head to Southwestern Michigan for a makeup game from earlier this month. They will follow the women's team at approximately 7:30 p.m. ET. Please come out and support the Chargers!!