Ball State University
0-3
Georgetown
3-0
No. 5 Georgetown Slips Past Men's Basketball 57-48
November 22, 2007 | Men's Basketball
Stovall, who climbed into sixth in school annals with 124 career three-point field goals after making a pair of threes against the Hoyas, finished the contest with a game-high 16 points moving his career total to 1,011.
“First off, I am really proud of our kids' effort out there tonight," says first-year Ball State head coach Billy Taylor. "I couldn't be more proud of our effort. I don't want to take anything away from that. That's our team and the group of guys we have.”
An energetic and supportive homecourt, which included the entire BSU football team in "The Nest" wearing jerseys, witnessed the Cardinals erase a 17-point second-half deficit.
Back-to-back three-point field goals from freshman Deontay Twyman with under eight minutes to go cut the Hoyas' lead to single digits.
A layup from National Player of the Year Candidate Roy Hibbert pushed the edge back to 10 points, before Stovall broke the Georgetown defense down and slashed to the lane for a layup with 2:46 left.
A pair of free throws from freshman Melvin Goins pulled the spirited Cardinals to within 51-45 with two minutes on the clock, while Goins drilled a three-point field goal with under a minute to keep the BSU upset bid alive.
The Hoyas answered from the free throw line in the final 13 seconds en route to the 57-48 final.
"This was the number five team in the nation," Stovall said. "We expected to win and we had confidence. The young guys did a great job. I know we have heart. These guys have so much heart and that's part of the reason I was smiling all night. If we play as hard as we did tonight, continue to improve every day and play with heart, then it's going to be a great year."
Ball State dressed a roster of 10, including just seven scholarship players after leading scorer Anthony Newell was sidelined with a foot injury on Tuesday.
"We would have loved to have Anthony out there, but he was really great at encouraging our guys," Taylor said. "He handled it well. We really just tried to control the tempo of the game. I thought we did a pretty good job of that even though we weren't as organized as we could have been. Anthony wanted to be out there and we know he will be back as soon as possible."
Ball State, which has played two top 25 teams in its first three games, received a standing ovation on numerous times from the Cardinal fans.
“I think every game we have become better and made improvements," Taylor said. "I love our crowd for staying and giving us a standing ovation. When we continue to give that effort, things will start to happen.”
The Cardinals return to action with a 2 p.m. contest Saturday vs. Evansville in Worthen Arena.
