Ball State University
5-119-22; MAC
vs. No. 8 Eastern Michigan
6-1013-18; MAC
Men's Basketball Season Ends With MAC First-Round Loss
March 07, 2007 | Men's Basketball
CLEVELAND, Ohio -- After trailing by as many as 12 points in the second half of Wednesday's Mid-American Conference Tournament first-round contest against Eastern Michigan, the Ball State men's basketball team had a chance to tie the contest on a pair of free throws from Micah Rollin with 51 seconds left.
Rollin hit the first free throw to pull BSU within 49-48, but missed the second.
Anthony Newell grabbed his 13th rebound of the game on the miss, while Skip Mills missed a three-point field goal seconds later that could have sent the Cardinals into the tournament quarterfinals.
Instead, Eastern Michigan connected from the free throw line in the final 25 seconds to advance to Thursday's quarterfinal match-up vs. No. 1 seed Toledo with a 51-48 victory.
The loss ends Ball State's season with a 9-22 overall record.
"I thought this team had more than enough opportunities to just bag it and to say the heck with it, but these guys just didn't do that," says BSU head coach Ronny Thompson. "I thought we did a better job defensively in the second half and that allowed us to get back into the game."
The first half saw Eastern Michigan's Jesse Bunkley nail five three-point field goals en route to a game-high 15 points eight minutes into the contest. The Eagles hit a total of 12 field goals in the first half, but eight of those were from three-point range.
After trailing 32-25 at the half, Eastern Michigan built a 43-31 lead on a pair of free throws before Newell sparked the BSU comeback with a thunderous dunk with 8:57 remaining.
The Cardinals used a 17-6 run over the next eight minutes on baskets from Mills and another dunk from Newell to set-up the 49-48 score and final 51-second finish.
Newell posted his third straight -- and seventh double-double of the season -- with a game-high 20 points and 13 boards. Newell was 10-for-12 from the free throw line.
"We lost," Newell said. "Once again it's the final score and it didn't go our way. Every game we played against them was close."
Mills, who played in his final game at Ball State, finished with 13 points. His four-year total of 1,360 points rank 11th all-time in the 86-year history of BSU basketball. Mills was named an All-MAC Honorable Mention selection earlier in the day.
"I was proud of my team because they got the game to a point where I wanted to be at," Mills said about the Cardinals' chances to win. "I just didn't come through today. I had about five shots that went in and came out today. That's just part of the game, but it is frustrating."
Rollin and Peyton Stovall each finished with five points. Bunkley led three Eagles in double figures with 15 points.
