Ball State University
7-23
Bowling Green
20-10
Men's Hoops Falls in MAC Tourney at Bowling Green
March 09, 2015 | Men's Basketball
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio – The Ball State men's basketball team made a second-half rally Monday night but saw its season come to an end with an 88-75 loss at Bowling Green in the first round of the Mid-American Conference Tournament.
The Cardinals trimmed a 16-point halftime deficit to three with 9 minutes remaining, but fifth-seeded Bowling Green was able to stave off the comeback to advance to Cleveland and a second-round meeting with Eastern Michigan.
"We really competed in the second half," Ball State head coach James Whitford said. "We really wanted to play the second half with much better intensity on the defensive end, which we did. We wanted to treat the game like it was 0-0 and play the game the right way."
Bo Calhoun scored 17 points to lead four Ball State players in double figures. Jeremiah Davis scored a career-high 16, Sean Sellers had 13 and Franko House added 10.
The Cardinals (7-23) fell into the deep hole at halftime thanks to an offensive outburst from a Bowling Green team that normally hangs its hat on the defensive end of the floor. The Falcons (20-10) played without injured MAC Player of the Year candidate Richaun Holmes but shot 58.6 percent and knocked down 6 of 10 from 3-point range over the opening 20 minutes.
"I thought it was a combination of us not having a good half on defense and everything they threw up went in," Whitford said.
Ball State came out of the locker room trailing 50-34 and immediately went to work attacking the paint, where it held a 30-22 advantage for the night.
An 8-0 spurt quickly cut the lead back to single digits, and the Cardinals kept clawing back. Ball State held Bowling Green to just 11 points over the first 11 minutes of the second half and closed within three when a jumper from Davis in the lane cut it to 61-58.
"If you asked me to define Ball State basketball, that stretch is what we're trying to do consistently," Whitford said. "We had great defensive intensity, we played with pace, and we got the ball from the right side to the left side."
It was still a four-point game with 7 minutes to go when Bowling Green hit a 6-0 spurt to push its advantage to 70-60. The Falcons controlled things from there.
Anthony Henderson led Bowling Green with 20 points, while Jehvon Clarke scored 19, Zack Denny 16 and Delvin Dickerson 12.
Ball State fifth-year senior Matt Kamieniecki, coming off a career-high 21 points three days ago, played his final collegiate game. He played in obvious pain through the back injury that has hampered him the second half of the season and gritted out seven points in 13 minutes.
Kamieniecki is the lone senior departing from a team that relied heavily on underclassmen. The Cardinals will return the core of that young team next season.
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