Ball State University Athletics
Men?s Hoops Heads to Toledo for Saturday Night Game
February 27, 2015 | Men's Basketball
Ball State at Toledo
Saturday, Feb. 28; 7 p.m.
Savage Arena (Toledo, Ohio)
Video: utrockets.com
Radio: 104.1 WLBC
The Ball State men's basketball team will play its final road game of the regular season Saturday when it visits Toledo for an evening tipoff.
The Cardinals will again face a team contending for the league championship. The defending regular season co-champion Rockets (18-10, 10-5 MAC) are one game out of first place and have won eight of their past 10 games. They lost the other two by a combined three points.
One of those losses came just Wednesday night when Toledo lost 84-82 at home to Northern Illinois. Remarkably, four of the Rockets' five conference losses have come on their home floor.
Ball State has played tough against the best teams in the conference, even defeating MAC leader Central Michigan earlier this season, but the Cardinals (7-19, 2-13 MAC) have had a hard time getting over the hump lately.
Ball State is coming off a 53-48 loss Tuesday to Western Michigan, though the Cardinals had the ball and trailed only one possession in the final 15 seconds.
Saturday's game will offer Ball State its second look at Toledo in three weeks. The Rockets left Muncie with a 72-61 win back on Feb. 7 behind 24 points from Julius Brown. Brown is the second-leading scorer in the MAC (16.8 ppg) and is one of five Rockets averaging double figures in conference play.
Franko House led the Cardinals in the first meeting, matching his career-high with 19 points. It was House's third straight game in double figures, and he has since run that streak to eight games.
Following Saturday's contest, Ball State will return home for two in a row to close the regular season. The Cardinals have games Tuesday against Eastern Michigan and Saturday against Northern Illinois at Worthen Arena. The MAC Tournament then begins March 9 with first-round games at campus sites.
