The Cardinals, who have traveled to Las Vegas and Washington, D.C. in the last eight days, drop to 2-4 on the season. Georgetown, who entered the game ranked in the top 20, improved to 4-1.
"We just went through a tough stretch," says first-year BSU head coach Ronny Thompson. "But, we still played hard and the guys gave great effort. I am proud of our guys."
The game was the first meeting between brothers Ronny Thompson and John Thompson III. Former Georgetown coach and Hall of Fame coach John Thompson watched from the baseline.
The brothers are one of only two sets of brothers coaching in NCAA Division I men's basketball.
"After the game my brother came into our locker room and told the guys to keep working hard," Thompson said. "He said that watching us on film, he had no idea how hard we played. It was good for them to hear that from him and I know they appreciated it."
The Hoyas opened the game with an 8-2 run and built an early 14-point advantage less than five minutes into the contest after a three-point play from 7-foot-2 Roy Hibbert.
A three-pointer from Jalon Perryman, followed by seven straight points from Peyton Stovall closed the gap to 22-18 with 7:07 on the clock.
Georgetown answered with a 10-1 run of its own over the next two minutes en route to a 40-28 halftime lead.
In the second half, Ball State closed within 12 points on four occasions before an 11-2 Georgetown run -- capped by a dunk from Vernon Macklin -- pushed the Hoyas' lead to over 21 points.
A three-pointer from Patrick Ewing, Jr. gave GU its biggest lead of the night -- 69-46 -- with 1:49 left in the game.
Chris Ames sparked a 9-0 BSU run in the final 1:00 of the game to make the final score 69-54.
Micah Rollin reached double figures for his second straight contest and the third time in BSU's last four games with 10 points.
Anthony Newell also scored in double figures for the sixth time in as many games with 10 points and a team-high six rebounds.
Skip Mills and Stovall each added nine points, while Ames finished with eight.
"This part of the season is to see what your strengths and weaknesses are," says Mills. "We are learning a lot about our team right now and we all feel that we are close."Ball State returns to Worthen Arena for a 2 p.m. contest Saturday vs. Indiana State. NBA halftime act "The Chicago Acrobatic Boys" will entertain at halftime of the game.
Tickets are available by calling the BSU Ticket Office at 1.888.BSU.TICKET or online at ballstatesports.com.
