Men's Basketball to Play Central Michigan in Home Finale

Ball State Men's Basketball Mid-American Conference Play
Game 30 vs. Central Michigan	Saturday, March 4 at 7 p.m. Live Stats \| ESPN+ \| Listen
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The Ball State men's basketball team hosts Central Michigan at 7 p.m. on Tuesday in its home finale at Worthen Arena in a game presented by Raising Cane's.

Fans are encouraged to be in their seats early for a pregame Senior Day ceremony during which five players, two graduate assistants and two senior managers will be recognized.

The matchup will be streamed on ESPN+ with Mick Tidrow and David Eha on the call, while Noah Reed and Scot Bunnell handle the radio broadcast on WMUN 1340AM – 92.5FM.

Ball State leads the head-to-head series with the Chippewas 71-39 including a 42-9 edge in games played in Muncie. The Cardinals won 82-80 on Jan. 21 at Central Michigan in the first matchup between the two teams this year.

Ball State (14-15, 7-9 Mid-American Conference) got 15 points and four rebounds from Mickey Pearson Jr., and 14 points and seven boards by Payton Sparks, but fell 61-52 on Saturday afternoon at Bowling Green.

Central Michigan (13-16, 6-10 MAC) most recently fell 84-73 at Eastern Michigan on Friday night and currently sits at ninth in the conference standings.

The Chippewas defend and get to the foul line, ranking second in the MAC in scoring defense (72.0 points per game) and third in field goal percentage defense (43.6), free throws made per game (15.0) and free throws attempted per game (20.6).

Senior guard Anthony Pritchard leads the league in assists per game (5.6) and total assists (161, No. 27 in NCAA Division I) and ranks second in steals per game (2.0) and total steals (59). Junior forward Ugnius Jarusevicius paces the MAC in double-doubles (eight) while averaging a team-high 16.3 points and 7.4 rebounds per game.

Ball State wraps up the regular season at 6 p.m. on Friday at Miami (OH). The game will be broadcast on ESPNU.

CELEBRATING THE SENIORS: Ethan Brittain-Watts, Mickey Pearson Jr., Payton Sparks, Jeremiah Hernandez and Ben Hendriks will be honored pregame Tuesday.

Graduate assistants Shea Cupples and Sam Weger and student managers Kyle Gilchrist and Zach Hall will also be recognized in the Senior Day ceremony.

MAC TOURNAMENT IMPLICATIONS: Tuesday night's game against the Chippewas will have Mid-American Conference Tournament implications with two teams tied at 9-7, two at 8-8 and two at 7-9.

The top eight teams make the tournament, with the Cardinals currently the final team in at 7-9 in the MAC standings. Central Michigan's hopes are alive at 6-10, but Ball State holds head-to-head tiebreakers with Bowling Green, Central, Eastern Michigan and Kent State entering the week among possible ties.

WIND IT BACK: Ball State came back from a 13-point deficit to beat Central Michigan 82-80 back on Jan. 21 in Mount Pleasant for its biggest comeback of the season.

Jeremiah Hernandez hit three free throws with 4.2 seconds remainings to lead the Cardinals to the road victory.

SEASON HIGHS FOR FATT AND MICKEY: Both Jermahri Hill (26 points) and Pearson Jr. (24) set season bests in scoring last Tuesday against Akron.

Hill had put up 25 points twice earlier this season (Dayton on Nov. 13 and Anderson on Dec. 31), while Pearson Jr., had his previous season high of 21 points on Feb. 8 vs Southern Miss. Pearson Jr., also tied his career-best with four 3-pointers and finished one point shy of his career-high in scoring (25 at Central Michigan on Feb. 27, 2024).

TJ TIME: True freshman guard TJ Burch has provided a spark off the bench in the second half in each of the last two games, scoring seven points and dishing out two assists on Tuesday against Akron and putting up five points, three assists and three rebounds Saturday at Bowling Green.

Burch had the best plus/minus (+8) on the team against the Zips and helped the Cardinals rally back from a 13-point deficit when he first checked in to get as close as three points in the closing seconds of the game. The freshman played his most minutes (14 at Bowling Green) and scored his most points in a MAC game the last two outings.

LOCKING DOWN THE PERIMETER: The Cardinals have been successful in limiting opponents' shooting from distance to the tune of a Mid-American Conference best 3-point defense percentage of 30.9.

Ball State is even better in conference play percentage-wise at 30.4 which is second in the MAC (Akron at 30.1). The Cardinals also have performed well on the offensive end from distance, ranking second in the MAC in league games with a 36.7 3-point percentage.

CAREER HIGH FOR THE CANADIAN: Hendriks scored a career-best 14 points in the 80-66 triumph over Buffalo on Feb. 22.

Hendriks was efficient in doing so, going 6-for-8 from the field and making both free throw attempts in 11 minutes of playing time.

GORO-THREE-TO: Junior guard Juanse Gorosito hit his 200th career 3-pointer early in the second half of last Tuesday night's game against Akron.

Gorosito has now made multiple triples in 20 games this season and ranks fourth in the conference in 3-pointers made (70) and second in shooting percentage (40.9) from distance among among those who've made at least two per game.

TRIO OF 1,000 POINT SCORERS: Jeremiah Hernandez became the third Ball State men's basketball player of the season to amass 1,000 career points when he hit the milestone early in the second half on Feb. 11 vs Eastern Michigan.

Sparks secured his 1,000th point on New Year's Eve before Mickey Pearson Jr., hit the mark on Feb. 8.

MOVING UP THE RECORD BOOK: Sparks (751 career rebounds at Ball State) passed Franko House (741) on Feb. 22 against Buffalo to move up eighth in the Ball State record book for career boards.
Bonzi Wells (843 career rebounds) is 7th on the list. Sparks is currently 5th on the career free throws made list (385) and 25th in scoring (1,204).

GETTING FAMILIAR WITH THE FREE THROW LINE: Sparks (199) and Hill (191) are first and second in the league in free throw attempts, respectively.

Sparks ranks No. 22 nationally in free throw attempts, while Hill is No. 25 in NCAA Division I. The two are tied for third in the MAC in free throws made with 128.

GETTING TO THE LINE: The Cardinals pace the Mid-American Conference in both free throw attempts per game (26.1) and free throws made per game (18.3) through the season's first 29 games.

Ball State ranks No. 6 and No. 8 in those categories in NCAA Division I, respectively. The total tallies (756 attempts and 531 makes) outpace the next-closest MAC team (Toledo) by 153 attempts and 85 makes.

HOME STATE HEROES: Brittain-Watts (2019), Zane Doughty, Joey Hart and Mason Jones (2023) were each named Indiana High School All-Stars, while three more Cardinals also had ties to the state before arriving in Muncie.

Ball State has the second-most players from Indiana high schools among Indiana-based Division I teams behind Purdue.

WORLD FLYERS: The 2024-25 Ball State roster consists of student-athletes from three different countries in addition to the United States of America.

Gorosito (Argentina), Hendriks (Canada) and Jurica Zagorsak (Croatia) are international Cardinals this season. Interestingly, Juanse, Ben and Jurica were born on different continents, so Ball State has student-athletes from North America, South America and Europe on the team.

TRANSFERS FROM ALL OVER: Each of Ball State's seven student-athletes who have transferred into the program have come from different college basketball conferences.

The list includes Ethan Brittain-Watts (Patriot League, Boston), Gorosito (West Coast Conference, Portland), Hart (SEC, Kentucky), Hernandez (Ohio Valley Conference, USI), Pearson Jr. (Big 12, TCU), Sparks (Big Ten, Indiana) and Hill who played junior college ball at South Plains in Levelland, Texas.

Men's Basketball to Play Central Michigan in Home Finale

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Players Mentioned

Ethan Brittain-Watts

TJ Burch

Zane Doughty

Juanse Gorosito

Joey Hart

Ben Hendriks

Jeremiah Hernandez

Jermahri Hill

Mason Jones

Mickey Pearson Jr.

Payton Sparks

Jurica Zagorsak