Ball State University Athletics
Ames Sparks Cardinals To MAC Victory On Family Day
January 29, 2006 | Men's Basketball
After struggling with his shooting during the first half of the conference season, Ames broke out for a season and BSU career-high 12 points on a perfect 5-of-5 shooting Sunday against Toledo.
Ball State (7-10, 3-6 MAC) earned a 69-56 victory for its third consecutive home win.
Ames had made only two field goals in MAC play but had countless shots go halfway through the basket before rimming out. Sunday, the junior college transfer found nothing but net on his first attempt, a 17-foot jumper from the left baseline, and never looked back.
"I just said, ‘It's about time for you to play your game, Chris," Ames said. "Hopefully I'm out of the slump, but I give all thanks to my teammates because they kept my head up when I was down."
Ames' first basket at the 13:38 mark of the first half sparked a 9-1 run that gave Ball State a 17-13 lead. The Cardinals never trailed again.
Ball State took a 29-24 lead into the break and quickly opened up its first 10-point lead at 34-24 on a Skip Mills jumper two minutes into the second half.
Mills scored a game-high 18 points to lead four Cardinals in double figures. Freshmen Maurice Acker -- a candidate for the league's Freshman of the Year -- and Jalon Perryman scored 14 and 11 points, respectively, to go along with Ames' 12.
Ball State shot 52 percent from the floor and outscored Toledo 36-16 in the paint.
"I thought today we played aggressive," Ball State coach Tim Buckley said. "I thought we attacked. Guys got into the paint, and they made good decisions, whether it was to score the ball or to drop it off to the big guys."
The Cardinals maintained a double-digit lead for the majority of the second half. Toledo closed the gap to 56-49 on an Anton Currie three-pointer with four minutes to play, but Perryman answered quickly, taking a pass from Acker for a lay-in to push the lead back to nine points.
Acker finished with five assists, his fifth consecutive game with at least five helpers.
Mills slammed the door shut three minutes later with a steal and a dunk to give Ball State its biggest lead at 67-52.
Ball State recorded 11 steals, including four from Mills. The Cardinals also out-rebounded Toledo 31-24. Ames finished with a game-high eight rebounds, also a season-high for him.
"Chris came through in a big way and did what we expect him to do," Buckley said. "I think he's got that confidence and belief back."
Keonta Howell led Toledo with 16 points, and Justin Ingram scored 10. The Rockets shot 49 percent from the floor but made just 3-of-14 free throws.
Ball State has now won three of its last four and will play on the road at MAC West-leading Northern Illinois Wednesday at 7 p.m.
