Ball State University Athletics
Perryman's Career-High Leads Ball State Past Central Michigan
February 15, 2006 | Men's Basketball
Jalon Perryman scored a career-high 18 points Wednesday to lead Ball State to a 63-60 win at Central Michigan.
Perryman matched his career-best with 33 minutes of action and connected on a career-high four three-pointers.
"Tonight was a big win on the road, especially at this point in the year," Perryman said. "Early in the game, I tried to get in a rhythm, and after the first couple shots went down, it felt really good."
Perryman gave the Cardinals a five-point edge at 62-57 with 2:36 to play on a one-handed jam in transition. Maurice Acker stole the ball from Central Michigan's Giordan Watson and threw it ahead to Perryman for the dunk.
The steal was one of three on the night for Acker, a MAC Freshman of the Year candidate, who also scored eight points and dished out seven assists.
Coming off a double-double at Miami, D'Andre Peyton added 16 points and pulled down seven rebounds. Skip Mills, the third leading scorer in the MAC, put up 13 points.
Mills fouled out with 21 seconds remaining and the Cardinals leading 62-59. Chris Kellermann went to the free throw line for Central Michigan and made his first shot. He missed the second, and Anthony Newell grabbed the rebound for Ball State.
Acker wound up with the ball and was fouled. He hit one free throw to give the Cardinals their three-point margin of victory.
"When Skip fouled out, Anthony Newell made a play that Skip would have made if he was on the floor," Ball State coach Tim Buckley said. "It was a big rebound late in the game."
Newell pulled down four rebounds off the bench, and Charles Bass grabbed seven rebounds in 15 minutes for Ball State.
Sefton Barrett led Central Michigan with 17 points and 11 rebounds, and Watson, guarded by Acker, scored 13 points on 3-of-11 shooting.
With the win, the Cardinals improve to 9-13 and 5-9 in the MAC.
"We were able to play through our mistakes tonight," Buckley said. "We still made some, but the guys did a great job of playing through them."
Ball state returns to action Saturday at 4 p.m. at Worthen Arena. The Cardinals will host Tennessee State as part of ESPN's Bracket Buster Saturday.
