With a victory, the Cardinals could have clinched the Mid-American Conference West outright, but after the loss, the two are tied for the division lead, both sitting at 10-7 in the conference.
“I don’t think there was a high expectation,” junior forward Franko House said. “It is little stuff like that when guys aren’t knocking down shots. It is disappointing for them and us.”
House led the team in scoring, with 23 points, but the Cardinals shot 36.5 percent from the field and 22.7 percent from behind the 3-point line.
Sophomore guard Francis Kiapway and sophomore guard Jeremie Tyler combined for only 2 points in tonight’s contest. The two missed all nine of their combined 3-pointers.
Central Michigan forced Ball State into 12 turnovers and scored 13 points off the team.
The Cardinals also shot 16 less shots than the Chippewas throughout the course of the game.
“We couldn’t get it going on the offensive end,” head coach James Whitford said. “One of the things we had to do was exploit them on the glass. … We had to get more possessions on the glass than we did tonight. We were inexplicably not pursuing balls on the offensive glass.”
Rebounding has been Ball State's strong suit as of late, and they won the rebounding battle 40-38 tonight. But, Central Michigan’s 28 defensive rebounds to Ball State's six offensive rebounds proved to be a difference maker for the Cardinals' offense.
Senior forward Bo Calhoun said the Chippewas were more prepared for big games.
“Man, it is just one of those games we have never been in before,” Calhoun said. “They won at Toledo and came here and won, you know, that is an experienced group.”
The Chippewas started three seniors compared to Ball State's one on the Cardinals' senior night. Chris Fowler, a senior from Central Michigan, went 9-15 from the field and played 38 minutes.
“He was that guy for them tonight that controlled everything," Whitford said.
Whitford told his players that the season is not over for the Cardinals and neither are the big games, as the team is now one game away from the MAC Tournament.
“I said it to our guys, ‘We are going to get a lot more of these,’” Whitford said. “And I am not talking about next year. I am talking about Friday and Monday, and then Thursday, and then hopefully Friday, and then hopefully Saturday. I mean, they are all coming, and they are all big games.”
Ball State will travel to Northern Illinois University March 4 for its final regular season game. Seeding for the MAC tournament and the MAC West title is still up for grabs heading into the final weekend of the regular season.
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