Ball State University
Northern Illinois
Cardinals Suffer Last Second Loss At Northern Illinois
January 23, 2008 | Men's Basketball
DEKALB, Ill. -- Despite trailing by 14 points in the second half and holding Northern Illinois without a field goal for over 15 minutes, the Ball State men's basketball team suffered a 60-58 loss Tuesday.
The loss drops Ball State to 2-3 in the Mid-American Conference, while Northern Illinois improved to 2-3 in the league.
An alley oop dunk from junior Anthony Newell, off a pass from senior Peyton Stovall, gave Ball State its only lead in the contest at 57-56 with 2:20 left to play. The lead erased the one-time 14-point deficit.
However on the next possession, NIU's Ethan Grafel scored in the lane and was fouled for the three-point play with 20 seconds on the clock to put the home team ahead for the 60-58 final.
Ball State freshman Melvin Goins took the inbounds pass and drove the length of the floor as his layup grazed the side of the rim as time expired.
"Tonight was another hard-fought game," said first-year Ball State head coach Billy Taylor. "I really like they way we battled back from a big deficit and took the lead. Even with the outcome, tonight does show growth in our team, especially in the second half. We knew we were capable of playing better on both ends of the floor."
The Cardinals trailed by as many as 18 points in the first half, before trailing 32-23 at the intermission.
Newell sparked the BSU comeback with back-to-back buckets in the second half, before consecutive layups from Laron Frazier chipped the NIU lead into single digits.
The Huskies scored a field goal with 15:22 on the clock, but Ball State's defense held the Huskies to without another field goal until Grafel scored with :20 on the clock. NIU did connect on 11 free throws during the stretch.
"Our team is built on and around defense," Taylor added. "We know that defense is our key for success and for most of the second half we really caused them problems."
Newell finished with a game-high 24 points, while Stovall reached double figures for the 61st time in his career by scoring 11 points.
The Cardinals return to the road with a 2 p.m. game Saturday afternoon at MAC East foe Ohio. The game is scheduled to be televised on ESPN Full Court.
