Ball State University
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Western Michigan
Men?s Hoops Falls At WMU; Hosts Ohio Sunday At 2 p.m.
March 05, 2010 | Men's Basketball
KALAMAZOO, Mich. - The Ball State men's basketball team suffered a 67-52 loss Thursday night to Western Michigan at University Arena. The loss drops the Cardinals 8-8 in Mid-American Conference play and secures the eighth seed in the upcoming 2010 MAC Tournament. Ball State will host ninth seed Ohio Sunday afternoon at Worthen Arena at 2 p.m.
"This is obviously not the way we wanted to finish our regular season with three straight losses," head coach Billy Taylor said. "I questioned our effort and intensity after last game (Toledo), but I thought our effort was much better tonight. We got great play from Randy (Davis) and a gritty performance from Malik (Perry). We missed too many free throws, especially in the second half, and we fouled Western Michigan too much tonight."
Sophomore guard Randy Davis (Plymouth, Ind./Plymouth) led the Cardinals' attack as he scored a game-high 23 points, grabbed four rebounds, handed out three assists and notched three steals. Davis finished the game shooting 7-of-14 from the field and 4-of-6 from three-point land in the loss as he played a game-high 38 minutes.
Western Michigan (16-14, 8-8 MAC) opened the game quickly as it scored the first seven points of the night on its way to a 12-3 lead just over five minutes into the game. Flenard Whitfield paced the early attack with four straight points while Martelle McLemore hit an early three-pointer.
The Cardinals (15-14, 8-8 MAC) got back in the game as Davis started to catch fire as he scored 11 straight for the Cardinals at one point to pull Ball State within four at 20-16. The Cardinals took their first lead as it extended its run to 15-2, taking a 25-22 lead with 3:35 left in the opening frame. Davis was the catalyst as he scored 19 first half points as he was 5-of-6 from the field, 4-of-4 from three-point land and 5-of-5 from the free throw line. The 19 first half points are the most for any Cardinal this season in a half and just five points shy of Davis' career-high of 24 points (vs. Central Michigan 2/17/10).
Western Michigan ended the half on a modest 7-2 run to take a 29-27 lead into the locker room. Ball State connected on 45.0 percent (9-of-20) from the field and 57.1 percent (4-of-7) from three-point land. The Broncos hit 42.3 percent (11-of-26) from the field in the first half and 37.5 percent (3-of-8) from long range. Whitfield and McLemore led the Broncos in the opening frame with eight points each.
Western Michigan came out of the break and scored the first give points of the half to take a 34-27 lead. The Cardinals responded and pulled back within four at 37-33 as sophomore guard Pierre Sneed (Chicago, Ill./Simeon) scored in the paint. The Broncos broke the game open with a 14-4 run to take a 51-37 lead as Whitfield scored four straight points and David Kool started hitting baskets as he scored four points in the spurt.
Ball State kept battling and scored six straight points to pull within eight at 51-43. Sneed converted and old-fashioned three-point play while sophomore forward Jarrod Jones (Michigan City, Ind./Michigan City) hit a pair of free throws. The Cardinals were not able to pull any closer though as Western Michigan hit its free throws in the second half, connecting on 21-of-31 (67.7%) from the line in the frame while BSU hit just 52.8 percent (10-of-19) from the stripe.
The Cardinals finished the game shooting 36.4 percent (16-of-44) from the field and 45.5 percent (5-of-11) from three-point land. Ball State also committed 17 turnovers in the loss that Western Michigan turned into 27 points. Freshman guard Jauwan Scaife (Muncie, Ind./Muncie Central) finished with nine points while Jones added eight points and seven rebounds. Sneed chipped in seven points off the bench while junior forward Malik Perry (Philadelphia, Pa./Philadelphia Lutheran) returned from injury to grab six rebounds and score four points.
Western Michigan ended the night shooting 45.2 percent (19-of-42) from the field and 36.4 percent (4-of-11) from long range. The Broncos were led by Kool's 16 points, 12 of which came in the second half on his senior night. McLemore added 14 points while Whitfield ended with 12 points and seven rebounds off the bench.
With the loss, Central Michigan claims the MAC West Division title with a 9-7 record and the Cardinals finish in a three-way tie for second in the division with Western Michigan and Eastern Michigan. The Cardinals lose the tiebreaker with a 1-3 mark against EMU and WMU while the Eagles earn the six seed (3-1) and the Broncos (2-2) the seventh seed.
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