Mills Scores 21 Points; Cards Fall 71-61 At Toledo

Thursday, March 1

Toledo, Ohio

7:00pm

Ball State University

9-20 (5-10MAC)

Toledo

17-11 (13-2MAC)

Team	1	2	F
Ball State	29	32	61
Toledo	33	38	71

Mills & Peyton Lead Cardinals To MAC Win Over Buffalo

March 02, 2007 | Men's Basketball

Box Score

By: Ball State Athletics

TOLEDO, Ohio ? Despite 21 points from Skip Mills, the Ball State men's basketball team suffered a 71-61 setback Thursday at Mid-American Conference West Division-leading Toledo.

The loss drops Ball State to 9-20 overall and 5-10 in the league with one regular-season game left to play.

Toledo secured the top spot in the West with a 17-11 record and 13-2 MAC slate.

“Give Toledo a lot of credit tonight,” says BSU head coach Ronny Thompson. “They picked up their defensive intensity in the second half and started paying a lot of attention to Skip Mills.”

Despite falling behind 7-2 just three minutes into Thursday's contest, Ball State battled back to take a brief 18-17 lead following back-to-back scores from D'Andre Peyton midway through the first half.

The Rockets responded with a three-pointer from Kashif Payne and another long-range bomb from Justin Ingram as part of a 12-2 run to take a 29-20 edge with four minutes to play.

Mills, who returned to the starting lineup, scored Ball State's final 11 points of the first half to pull the Cardinals within 33-29 at the intermission.

The Cardinals closed to within one point on two occasions early in the second half, but Ingram scored eight straight Toledo points to push the home team's lead to 54-45 at the 10-minute mark.

The lead reached double figures at 55-45 on a free throw from UT's Jerrah Young at the 8:55 mark and never fell below eight points the remainder of the half.

A three-pointer from Anthony Newell with 2:55 remaining made the score 63-53, while Peyton Stovall's second three of the night pulled BSU to within 65-56 with 1:40 remaining.

Newell recorded his fifth double-double of the season with 17 points and 10 rebounds. Stovall finished with nine points.

Ingram scored 20 points to lead four Rockets in double figures. Toledo finished the contest shooting 55 percent from the floor, while BSU shot 49 percent.

The Cardinals end the regular season with a 2 p.m. contest Sunday vs. Western Michigan at Worthen Arena.