After what Ball State coach Tim Buckley referred to as a "Kansas-like" offensive onslaught by Chris Williams in the final five minutes in the first half, Ball State claimed its second Mid-American Conference win Wednesday, downing Central Michigan 89-77.
Williams finished the game with 21 points, going 8-16 from the field and 3-7 from behind the three point line. Fifteen of those points came in the final five minutes of the first half.
"That's what he did in the first half against Kansas," Buckley said. "Chris wanted the ball. He felt he could take advantage of his defender with the pick and roll. He hit a lot of big shots."
Williams credited much of his scoring frenzy to the support from which he received from his teammates.
"I think it started with my teammates," Williams said. "They gave me a lot of confidence. They told me to just keep shooting."
"Coach just let me go one on one at the top and I got the opportunities. I got hot for awhile. When you get on a role like that there is nothing the defense can do."
Trying to defend Williams in that five-minute stretch was the MAC's second-leading scorer, David Webber.
Webber finished the game as the leading scorer for the contest after dropping 30 points.
"He's a great player," senior Billy Lynch said. "You know he is going to take his shots. You know he's going to get his average. When he gets on a roll, he's tough to stop.
"Once we started defending he still hit shots and he's going to do that; he's a great player."
Ball State did not fare quite as well early in the first half, as Webber helped the Chippewas jump to a 13-point lead with seven minutes remaining in the half.
Another plague for Ball State (9-5 overall, 2-1 MAC) in the first half came in the way of fouls. For the first half, Central Michigan (3-8, 0-3) went to the free-throw line 13 times, draining each shot.
One Cardinal who found himself in foul trouble was freshman Matt McCollom. McCollom committed three fouls with nine and a half minutes remaining in the first half.
With McCollom in foul trouble early in the half, Billy Lynch filled the spot. By the end of the game, the senior was named player of the game, with a career-high 12 points, nine of which came from behind the line. Lynch also played 30 minutes of the contest as a non-starter.
"Like coach said, if I'm going to be out there, then I have to at least be a threat," Lynch said. "Fortunately I hit one or two and got feeling pretty good."
Central Michigan's head coach Jay Smith was fairly impressed with Lynch's performance Wednesday night.
"I thought Billy Lynch did a great job," Smith said. "He deserves some minutes and did a great job of playing offensively and handling the ball."
In the second half, good fortunes flipped when Ball State visited the charity stripe 26 times as Central Michigan found itself in foul trouble.
The Chippewas had already committed seven team fouls with nearly 14 minutes remaining in the game.
Smith chose his words carefully in regard to the difference in foul calls between the two halfs.
"They had 26 free throws in the second half, so if you want to get into particulars I'm going to get fined," Smith said.
With so many fouls, Ball State found itself shooting several bonus free throws. Because of the Chippewas' early fouls, Ball State chose to force the ball inside to draw more fouls in the second half rather than shoot the three-point shot, as Williams did in the first half. Ball State attempted 15 threes in the first half and only nine in the second half.
"There was no need to shoot threes like we usually do," Williams said.
Buckley agreed with Williams that the inside ball would work better in the second half.
"We never want to settle for jump shots," Buckley said. "We always want to be aggressive. In the second half we felt we could drive the ball better."
Even with the stronger offensive performance Wednesday night, Buckley was most pleased that his team regained some unity.
"The reason for our success is because everyone was all about winning tonight," Buckley said. "When we are like that we are a good basketball team."
"We played with a lot more passion (and) togetherness," Buckley said. "In basketball, the more you give the more you get, and that's what happened tonight."
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