Ball State University Athletics
Men's Basketball Suffers 56-51 Setback At Drexel
December 20, 2005 | Men's Basketball
After the Cardinals built their second advantage, it was a 13-0 run from the host Dragons that proved to be the most decisive. Drexel erased a 19-12 BSU lead during a six-minute stretch to take the lead.
"We had pockets of success, but when we do we go off on our own and don't follow the plan," said BSU head coach Tim Buckley. "Until we change that mentality, we're going to struggle with teams."
The first seven-point BSU lead came at the 13:08 mark when Jalon Perryman drilled a three-pointer to give BSU a 14-7 edge.
After Drexel closed within four points, a long-range bomb from Landon Adler pushed BSU's lead to 19-12 with 10:18 on the clock.
The bucket was the Cardinals' last field goal until 3:31 left in the half when Skip Mills hit the first of back-to-back threes to tie the game at 27. Randy Hampton and Kennell Sanchez each connected on jumpers, however, in the final 1:14 of the half for a 31-27 Drexel lead.
After falling behind 33-29 to open the second half, Maurice Acker drained a three of his own to pull BSU within 33-32, but an 8-2 Drexel run pushed the lead to seven points at 41-34 with 13 minutes left in the game.
A three from Mills, followed by a dunk from Adler cut the deficit to 41-39 but Drexel's Dominick Meija sparked yet another run that was capped with a three as the home team went ahead by seven points with four minutes to play.
Ball State closed within three points with :04 to play after a pair of three from Mills and Perryman, but the Dragons' Bashir Mason hit two free throws with :03 left for the 56-51 final.
"I thought we battled when we needed to in order to keep it in reach," Buckley said.
Mills paced Ball State for the seventh straight contest with a game-high 18 points. Acker set his brief college career highs with 12 points, five rebounds and five assists. Perryman finished with eight points, while Adler added five points and five rebounds in 14 minutes of action.
Ball State now has 11 days off from game action until nationally ranked Indiana visits Worthen Arena for a 6 p.m contest Dec. 31. Select tickets still remain for the IU game and are available by calling the BSU Ticket Office at 1.888.BSU.TICKETS.
