Tuesday, February 8
Muncie, Ind.
7 p.m.
Ball State University
11-12,6-6MAC
85
vs
89
Central Michigan
6-14,5-4MAC
1
2
OT 1
F
Central Mich.
33
45
11
89
Ball St.
37
41
7
85
Photo by: Chad Smith
Ball State Drops Heartbreaker to Central Michigan in Overtime
February 08, 2022 | Men's Basketball
MUNCIE, Ind. – The Ball State men's basketball team lost a heartbreaker in overtime to Central Michigan on Tuesday. The Cardinals had four players with double-digit points and two of those players picked up a double-double.
Miryne Thomas led Ball State with 17 points and brought down 11 rebounds for his second double-double of the year. Payton Sparks was second on the squad with 16 points and a game-high 13 rebounds as he posted his seventh double-double for his fourth-straight game. Tyler Cochran added 15 points, while Luke Bumbalough notched 12 points, all of them came from 3-point shots. Jaylin Sellers recorded a game-high four steals to go along with his nine points, block, and an assist. Demarius Jacobs and Bumbalough tied for a team-high five assists. Jacobs and Basheer Jihad each added a block.
The Chippewas jumped out to an early 6-2 lead to start the game. Two free throws by Sparks and a 3-pointer by Bumbalough quickly gave the Cardinals their first lead of the night, 7-6. CMU went on an 8-2 run to give the Chippewas a 14-9 lead. BSU answered with another run, to tie the game at 16-16 with 11:13 left in the first half.
A 10-2 run gave Central Michigan a 26-18 lead, its largest lead of the game. Ball State regained its composure and ended the first half on a 19-7 run, that ended on back-to-back dunks, one by Thomas and one by Sellers. BSU took a 37-33 lead into the break.
The Chippewas opened the second half with a 19-11 run to give them a 52-48 lead with 14:06 left in regulation. The Cardinals did not give up and were able to tie the game at 65-65 with 6:38 left in the second half. Cochran made two big free throws to put BSU up by three, but Cameron Healy hit a 3-pointer with six seconds left to send the game to overtime.
Central Michigan scored the first six points in overtime and that was too much for Ball State to overcome, as CMU went on to win the game 89-85.
As a team, the Cardinals outscored the Chippewas 36-22 in points in the paint and held a 21-16 advantage on points off turnovers. Ball State outrebounded Central Michigan 45-33.
Healy finished with a game-high 27 points. Harrison Henderson went for 25 points. Kevin Miller recorded a double-double behind 18 points and a game-high 10 assists. Miller added a team-best seven rebounds. Brian Taylor was the final player in double figures for CMU with 11.
With the loss, BSU fell to 11-12 overall and 6-6 in MAC play, while CMU improved to 6-14 overall and 5-4 in conference action. Ball State returns to action on Saturday, Feb. 12, at 2 p.m. The Cardinals will face the Buffalo Bulls in Buffalo, N.Y.
From the Coach – Head Coach James Whitford
"To tell you the kind of kid Payton is, we will show him the film on this, and no one will be harder on themselves than Payton Sparks and no one will work harder to make it right than Payton Sparks. They played a good game, they had a good shooting game. We didn't have our best shooting game, missed some big free throws. It's an 80-possession game. There's going to be 12 to 15 possessions that we're going to look at and say we know better than that. We didn't execute properly on these plays and that's winning, and they all matter just as much as the 3 at the end. That's learning what good teams, good programs do, it's attention to detail and every possession matters. And as much as we all want to change it we can't. Jaylin is an everyday guy at the highest level. He's like Payton in that he has matured a lot over the course of the year but like most players that get good it happens because you're grinding and watching film and paying attention and then your opportunity comes but you earn that thing over four months and that's who Jaylin Sellers is. He's a winner. We will be back ready Thursday and we'll cover a little of this to learn from our mistakes. We played pretty well against Buffalo here. Miryne didn't play in that game, and it was a wire-to-wire, could have been anyone's game. It's going to be a good test and a great challenge for us, but we'll be ready."
From the Student-Athletes – Freshman Center #5 Payton Sparks
"We've got to get back to practice and learn from this game. Learn from all the past games and keep moving on. We're going to keep competing. I trust this team and I love this team. We're going to keep competing every day. They made adjustments and were making plays on offense. We weren't getting stops. I thought we played hard. I think we sped ourselves up. We all want to get better. We have a great team. Everyone wants to get better every day."
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Miryne Thomas led Ball State with 17 points and brought down 11 rebounds for his second double-double of the year. Payton Sparks was second on the squad with 16 points and a game-high 13 rebounds as he posted his seventh double-double for his fourth-straight game. Tyler Cochran added 15 points, while Luke Bumbalough notched 12 points, all of them came from 3-point shots. Jaylin Sellers recorded a game-high four steals to go along with his nine points, block, and an assist. Demarius Jacobs and Bumbalough tied for a team-high five assists. Jacobs and Basheer Jihad each added a block.
The Chippewas jumped out to an early 6-2 lead to start the game. Two free throws by Sparks and a 3-pointer by Bumbalough quickly gave the Cardinals their first lead of the night, 7-6. CMU went on an 8-2 run to give the Chippewas a 14-9 lead. BSU answered with another run, to tie the game at 16-16 with 11:13 left in the first half.
A 10-2 run gave Central Michigan a 26-18 lead, its largest lead of the game. Ball State regained its composure and ended the first half on a 19-7 run, that ended on back-to-back dunks, one by Thomas and one by Sellers. BSU took a 37-33 lead into the break.
The Chippewas opened the second half with a 19-11 run to give them a 52-48 lead with 14:06 left in regulation. The Cardinals did not give up and were able to tie the game at 65-65 with 6:38 left in the second half. Cochran made two big free throws to put BSU up by three, but Cameron Healy hit a 3-pointer with six seconds left to send the game to overtime.
Central Michigan scored the first six points in overtime and that was too much for Ball State to overcome, as CMU went on to win the game 89-85.
As a team, the Cardinals outscored the Chippewas 36-22 in points in the paint and held a 21-16 advantage on points off turnovers. Ball State outrebounded Central Michigan 45-33.
Healy finished with a game-high 27 points. Harrison Henderson went for 25 points. Kevin Miller recorded a double-double behind 18 points and a game-high 10 assists. Miller added a team-best seven rebounds. Brian Taylor was the final player in double figures for CMU with 11.
With the loss, BSU fell to 11-12 overall and 6-6 in MAC play, while CMU improved to 6-14 overall and 5-4 in conference action. Ball State returns to action on Saturday, Feb. 12, at 2 p.m. The Cardinals will face the Buffalo Bulls in Buffalo, N.Y.
From the Coach – Head Coach James Whitford
"To tell you the kind of kid Payton is, we will show him the film on this, and no one will be harder on themselves than Payton Sparks and no one will work harder to make it right than Payton Sparks. They played a good game, they had a good shooting game. We didn't have our best shooting game, missed some big free throws. It's an 80-possession game. There's going to be 12 to 15 possessions that we're going to look at and say we know better than that. We didn't execute properly on these plays and that's winning, and they all matter just as much as the 3 at the end. That's learning what good teams, good programs do, it's attention to detail and every possession matters. And as much as we all want to change it we can't. Jaylin is an everyday guy at the highest level. He's like Payton in that he has matured a lot over the course of the year but like most players that get good it happens because you're grinding and watching film and paying attention and then your opportunity comes but you earn that thing over four months and that's who Jaylin Sellers is. He's a winner. We will be back ready Thursday and we'll cover a little of this to learn from our mistakes. We played pretty well against Buffalo here. Miryne didn't play in that game, and it was a wire-to-wire, could have been anyone's game. It's going to be a good test and a great challenge for us, but we'll be ready."
From the Student-Athletes – Freshman Center #5 Payton Sparks
"We've got to get back to practice and learn from this game. Learn from all the past games and keep moving on. We're going to keep competing. I trust this team and I love this team. We're going to keep competing every day. They made adjustments and were making plays on offense. We weren't getting stops. I thought we played hard. I think we sped ourselves up. We all want to get better. We have a great team. Everyone wants to get better every day."
Follow the Cardinals
*For tickets call 1-888-BSU-TICKET or 765-285-1474, or click here.
Team Stats
CMU
BSU
FG%
.459
.446
3FG%
.452
.375
FT%
.731
.643
RB
33
45
TO
12
13
STL
6
10
Game Leaders
Pts
17
FGM
6
3FGM
1
FTM
4
Pts
16
FGM
4
3FGM
0
FTM
8
Pts
15
FGM
5
3FGM
0
FTM
5
Pts
12
FGM
4
3FGM
4
FTM
0
Players Mentioned
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