Ball State University Athletics
Ball State Opens MAC Tournament Monday At Buffalo
November 10, 2005 | Men's Basketball
(10-17)
at
Buffalo
(18-12)
Mon., March 6, 2006
7 p.m.
Buffalo, N.Y.
On Radio:
Ball State Radio Network (WLBC 104.1 FM)
Morry Mannies & David Eha
Online @ www.ballstatesports.com
Media Information:
BSU Basketball Weekly Release/Game Notes (PDF)
SCOUTING BALL STATE
Ball State outscored Eastern Michigan 17-5 in overtime and 32-11 in the final 11 minutes of the contest to tally an 89-77 win in Ypsilanti, Mich., in the Cardinals final regular-season contest Saturday . . . After falling behind 65-57 with six minutes to play in regulation, Ball State rallied to tie the game at 72-72 at the end of regulation and forced an overtime period . . .Skip Mills scored a career-high 34 points to lead BSU . . . Jalon Perryman added 16 points, including a three just seconds into the overtime period . . . Maurice Acker finished with 15 points and six assists.
SCOUTING BUFFALO
Buffalo dropped a 74-65 decision in the final regular-season game of the season Saturday at Miami . . .Senior Calvin Cage led the Bulls with 22 points, while Parnell Smith chipped in 12 . . . The Bulls are 18-12 overall and finished as the No. 8 seed in the MAC with an 8-10 record . . . Buffalo is 11-3 at home, with all three setbacks coming against a MAC opponent . . . The Bulls are 4-7 in their last 11 games . . . Cage leads four players averaging double figures for the season with 18.2 points per contest . . . Yassin Idbihi adds 14.1 points and nearly seven rebounds per contest.
THE SERIES
Ball State and Buffalo will be meeting for the third time this season and for the 14th time in the all-time series . . . Ball State owns an 8-5 edge after the two teams split this year's season series . . . The match-up is the first between BSU and UB in the Mid-American Conference Tournament . . . In games played at Buffalo, the series is tied at 3-3 with the Bulls winning two straight in Alumni Arena.
THE MAC TOURNAMENT
Ball State opens its 25th Mid-American Conference Tournament with Monday night's first-round contest . . . The Cardinals own an all-time MAC Tournament record of 35-18 with seven tournament championships and eight tourney Most Valuable Players . . . Those totals are the most of any team in the league.
MORE ON THE MAC TOURNAMENT
Complete 2006 Mid-American Conference Tournament information and on-line credential requests can be found at www.mac-sports.com.
CAREER DAY FOR SKIP
Skip Mills scored a career-high 34 points — including 18 in the first half — to lead Ball State to an 89-77 overtime win at Eastern Michigan in the regular-season finale . . . He scored seven points in the overtime, including a three-point field goal and a steal and dunk with 1:16 left to put BSU up 13 . . . Mills was 11-for-17 from the field and 7-for-11 from three-point range — both career highs . . . In addition, he handed out five assists and matched his career-high with five steals in 42 minutes . . . It was the second 40-plus minute game this season for Mills . . . He logged a career-best 48 in two overtimes at Miami.
ACKER WITH A STATEMENT
Maurice Acker, a candidate for the MAC's Freshman of the Year, poured in 15 points and dished out six assists in Saturday's win at Eastern Michigan . . . The double-figure scoring effort was his 11th of the season and the eighth in league play . . . The six assists marked the 14th game with at least five assists.
OVERTIME OFFENSE
Ball State erased an eight-point deficit with under six minutes to play in regulation to force overtime Saturday at Eastern Michigan . . . The Cardinals then unleashed a 17-5 scoring barrage on the Eagles in overtime . . . Behind back-to-back threes from Jalon Perryman and Skip Mills to open the stanza, the Cardinals built a 10-point, 84-74 edge less than two and half minutes into the extra session . . . A steal and dunk from Mills gave BSU its biggest lead of the contest -- 89-76 -- with 1:19 left . . . In the final 11 minutes of the game, BSU outscored EMU 32-11.
MILLS MAKES IT 32 of 35 GAMES; 45 IN THE CAREER
After having his double-figure scoring streak snapped at 23 consecutive games Jan. 26 at Western Michigan, Skip Mills returned to double figures in six straight games prior to scoring just nine against Tennessee State Feb. 18 . . . He returned to the double-digits with 14 against Western Michigan Feb. 22, before just eight points at Toledo Feb. 26 . . . Mills scored 19 points March 1 vs. Northern Illinois and a career-high 34 Saturday at Eastern Michigan . . . The effort at EMU was the 45th double-figure scoring effort of his Ball State career and his 32nd in 35 games dating back to last season . . . Mills ended last year with eight consecutive double-figure scoring games, including three 20-plus scoring marks.
SKIP AND THE POINTS; #10 ALL-TIME AS A JUNIOR
Junior Skip Mills has scored 483 points in 27 games this season . . . The 483 points is 10th all-time for points scored by a junior at Ball State . . . Ray McCallum's 492 points as a junior in 1981-82 is ninth on the list . . . Mills scored his 900th career point March 1 vs. Northern Illinois . . . Mills has scored 952 career points in 83 career games at Ball State . . . Mills has also grabbed 361 total rebounds in his career.
MAURICE ACKER MOVES INTO TOP 10; CLIMBING THE LIST WITH #7 NEXT
Maurice Acker has scored 251 points this season and needs one point for seventh on BSU's all-time freshman scoring list . . . He has passed Randy Zachary's 219 points as a freshman in 1993-94, Jeff Williams' 229 points in 1977-78 and the 233 from Shafer Suggs in 1973-74 for eighth all-time . . . Derrick Wesley (252, 1984-85) is seventh on the list, while Duane Clemens (275, 1996-97) is sixth.
MARCH MADNESS
In Ball State's last two games, the Cardinals are averaging 81.0 points a game compared to the 63.2 points per contest for the season . . . Skip Mills is leading the charge with 26.5 points per game in the last two and shooting 51 percent from the floor . . . D'Andre Peyton is adding 14.5 points an outing and shooting 60 percent, while Jalon Perryman is adding 10 points a game in the last two . . . In addition, the Cardinals are shooting 42 percent from three-point range in the last two, compared to their 34 percent for the season.
C BASS IS BACK
Charles Bass poured in 13 points in the first half March 1 en route to matching his career high with 15 points vs. Northern Illinois . . . He was 7-for-9 from the field with four rebounds in 17 minutes of action . . . The double-figure scoring effort was his first since scoring 12 points Dec. 31, 2005 against Indiana.
WAS THAT THE LITTLE MAN WITH ALL THOSE BOARDS?
Maurice Acker, standing at 5-foot-8 and weighing 150 pounds, grabbed a team and game-high seven rebounds in the Feb. 22 setback to Western Michigan . . . Acker matched WMU and preseason All-MAC selection Joe Reitz with the seven boards . . . Reitz is listed at 6-7 and 250 pounds . . . Acker has grabbed at least three rebounds in a game nine times this season . . . Even more impressive, the Western Michigan game was the fifth time this season -- and the third time in the last eight games -- Acker has grabbed at least five rebounds.
HERE'S SOMETHING "NEW"
Anthony Newell logged a season and career-high 28 minutes in his first career start Feb. 22 against Western Michigan . . . It was the second straight contest with a career-best in minutes . . . He logged 24 minutes in the Feb. 18 loss to Tennessee State . . . The 6-foot-5 forward was a perfect 5-of-5 from three-point range en route to a career-high 20 points . . . After a redshirt season last year, Newell has played just 252 minutes of collegiate basketball and 175 of those minutes have been in league play.
MILLS IN THE MAC; JUNIOR ALL-MAC CANDIDATE
Skip Mills ended the regular season ranked fourth in scoring in the Mid-American Conference with his 17.9 points per game . . . Eastern Michigan's John Bowler was the league's top scorer with 20.2 points per outing . . . Bowling Green's Martin Samarco was second at 19.1, while Buffalo's Calvin Cage is third at 18.2
MAURICE "MAC"-KER
In Mid-American Conference regular-season games, Maurice Acker averaged 10.9 points and 5.0 assists per game . . . He also added 2.5 rebounds and 1.6 steals in 33.7 minutes per game.
BY THE NUMBERS
Maurice Acker nearly doubled his scoring average from non-conference to conference play . . . Through eight non-conference games, Acker averaged 6.0 points per game and was shooting 29 percent from the floor . . . Through 18 conference games, Acker averaged 10.9 points per outing . . . His assists numbers have also improved in that time . . . In non-conference play, Acker was averaging 3.5 assists per game compared to his 5.0 per game in MAC play . . . His 33.7 minutes per game was the most minutes by any of the league's Freshman of the Year candidates.
MAURICE AND THE DOUBLE-DOUBLE
In the Jan. 18 game at Buffalo, Maurice Acker accomplished a stat line which has not happened in nearly nine years from a BSU player . . . The true freshman recorded his first collegiate double-double with 15 points and 10 assists . . . The double-double was the first of the points/assists variety since Randy Zachary scored 19 points and handed out 10 assists against Eastern Michigan in 1997.
THE NEW GUYS DOING THE HELP
In Mid-American Conference play, Ball State has totalled 215 assists . . . MAC Freshman of the Year Candidate Maurice Acker has 90 of those, while fellow freshman Jalon Perryman has 28 . . . The assist numbers have been even more impressive over the last seven games as the duo has combined for 51 helpers.
MAC STATS ONLY HERE, BUT SKIP'S GETTING HELP
After the Mid-American Conference regular season, Ball State had three players averaging double figures -- 17.9 from Skip Mills, 11.1 from D'Andre Peyton and 10.9 from Maurice Acker . . . The statistic shows improvement from the non-conference season where Mills was the only active Cardinal to average more than nine points per game.
SKIP AND THE NEW GUYS
With Ball State's roster changes, 10 of the 12 active BSU players are playing in their first season at Ball State . . . Seven players are in their first year with the program, while the other three (Landon Adler, Charles Bass and Anthony Newell) were redshirts at BSU.
SKIP AND THE NEW GUYS — PART II
Ball State's starting lineup in its last four games has included four first-year players -- and three true freshmen -- in the program . . . Freshman Maurice Acker started his 24th game Saturday, while freshman Jalon Perryman has started 20 games and freshman Pat Nelson has started his six . . . Junior college transfer D'Andre Peyton made his 22nd start Saturday, while Skip Mills is the only Cardinal to start all 27 games this year.
THE NEW GUYS, THE POINTS, THE LINEUPS
First-year players in the Ball State program account for 63 percent of BSU's offense this season . . . In addition, the Cardinals have used nine different starting lineup combinations this season.
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