WAVERLY, Iowa – Mount Mercy College capitalized on a hot opening half from the field against Maranatha Baptist Bible College, and host Wartburg College torched the nets in the closing half of the evening's second semifinal against Marian (Wis.) University en route to victories and a matchup in the championship of the 2010 Buzz Levick –Pizza Ranch Tipoff Tournament at 4:00 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 20. Maranatha Baptist and Marian will square off in the consolation game slated for a 2:00 p.m. start.

During the opening half of the night's first semifinal, Mount Mercy held a six-point advantage (16-10) with 13:49 left. The Mustangs utilized an 8-0 run covering 2:10 on the game clock and another 8-0 later in the opening stanza giving them a commanding 38-17 lead with 4:13 remaining. Their lead hovered around 20 the remainder of the half, as the Mustangs took a 48-27 into the break. During the first 20 minutes, the Mustangs shot 18-of-29 (62.1 percent) and limited Maranatha Baptist to 9-of-24 (37.5 percent) from the floor.

The two teams traded buckets to start the second half of play. The Mustangs held a 19-point lead at 55-36 with 14:55 to play. However, the Crusaders slowly began to chip away at the Mount Mercy lead, slicing it to 10 (75-65) with 2:24 left. That's as close as Maranatha Baptist would get with Mount Mercy knocking down all four free throw attempts on the way to a 79-65 win.

LeTerrious Thomas led the Mustangs with a game-high 26 points on 8-of-13 shooting, including 3-of-6 from beyond the three-point line and a perfect 7-of-7 at the line. Max Stambaugh and Jordan Ask each finished in double figures with 12 and 11, respectively, while Josh Watznauer tallied nine points and seven rebounds.

Tim Shelp paced the Crusaders with 17 markers, while Josh Stein posted the game's lone double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds.

In the second game of the night, the two sides were knotted at 7-7 with 13:21 on the clock. Wartburg proceeded to reel off a quick 7-0 spurt over the next 1:17 and took a 14-7 lead before the Sabres posted a 17-2 run of their own spanning 5:17 of action for their largest lead of the opening half at 24-16 with 6:47 left. In the back-and-forth opening stanza, the Knights answered with a 15-3 surge covering 5:13 for a 31-27 lead and held a slim one-point lead at 34-33 at the intermission.

During the first eight minutes of the second half, neither team possessed more than a four-point lead. With the Knights clinging to a one-point lead (53-52) with 11:34 left in the contest, the hosts managed a 10-1 spurt over the next three minutes and never looked back in the 85-77 win.

For Wartburg, junior Jordan Sathoff of Packwood continued the hot start to his year with team-highs in points with 22 and rebounds with nine, while classmate Cole Danielson of Marshalltown and freshman Jordan Hester of Countryside, Ill., added 21 and 17 points, respectively. Additionally, junior Kirk Sidey of Greenfield tallied a game-high seven assists to go along with seven points and four boards.

Jeff Harris led the way for the Sabres with 18 points, while Colin Lohenry posted a double-double racking up 11 points and 11 boards.