Men’s Hoops Visits NIU for MAC West Showdown

Game 26
Ball State (15-10, 6-6 MAC) at Northern Illinois (14-11, 6-6 MAC)
Tuesday, Feb. 14, 2017 (8 p.m. CT/9ET)
DeKalb, Ill. (NIU Convocation Center)
Watch (ESPN3) | Listen (WLBC) | Live Stats

Tuesday's game will be broadcast by the American Sports Network and will air in Indiana markets on CSN Chicago Plus.

Opening Tip
• Ball State will play four of its final six regular season games on the road, starting Tuesday at Northern Illinois. It is the first of two meetings in the final three weeks between the teams, who will close out the regular season against each other March 3 in Muncie.

• Tuesday's game marks the first of six in a row against MAC West Division opponents to close out the regular season. The Cardinals enter the game 4-0 against the West.

• Ball State and NIU are part of a four-way tie for first place in the West Division along with Central Michigan and Toledo. Eastern Michigan and Western Michigan are one game back.

• Ball State is coming off back-to-back two-point losses to the top two teams in the overall conference standings. The Cardinals fell 65-63 on a buzzer beater last Tuesday at Akron and suffered a 79-77 setback Friday at home to Ohio when a last-second shot was off the mark.

• The Cardinals rallied from 25 points down against Ohio to take a one-point lead in the closing minutes but could not hold on. Sophomore center Trey Moses led five double-figure scorers for BSU with 17 points and 12 rebounds for his fifth double-double of the season.

• Northern Illinois returns home after suffering a pair of road losses last week at Buffalo (65-45) and Western Michigan (76-67). Marin Maric leads the Huskies with 13.4 points and 7.7 rebounds per game.

• Senior guard Ryan Weber is closing in on a career milestone. He is eight points shy of 1,000 for his career. Weber scored 420 points in two years at Youngstown State before transferring to Ball State, where he has scored 572 points over the past two seasons.

• Senior forward Franko House ranks seventh in school history with 120 career games played. The Cardinals' all-time leader is Mike Spicer (1988-92) with 126 games played.

Climbing the Charts
• With four 3-pointers Friday against Ohio, junior guard Francis Kiapway moved into the top 5 in school history for career treys.
• Kiapway passed Randy Zachary and Peyton Stovall and now ranks fourth in BSU annals with 164.
• Teammate Sean Sellers is close behind him, ranking seventh on the list with 159.

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Players Mentioned

Franko House

Francis Kiapway

Trey Moses

Sean Sellers

Ryan Weber