Baton Rouge, la - Ball State players and coaches have often said they live and die by the three. Tuesday night in the second round of the National Invitation Tournament against Louisiana State University, Ball State without a doubt, lived by the three.
With two seconds remaining on the shot clock and 27.4 seconds on the game clock, Petie Jackson drained a three and opened the flood gates to put the Cardinals ahead, 71-65. From there, the only thing the Tigers could do was foul, and play catch-up. LSU was unable to catch-up however as Ball State defeated LSU, 75-65 to advance to the third round
of the NIT. Ball State will play at South Carolina on Thursday.
After strong defensive pressure from LSU on that final possession, Jackson called his shot a "desperation shot" after Billy Lynch fed him the ball around his ankles.
"I saw the shot clock and kind of bobbled it," Jackson said. "I shot faked and took one dribble and shot it. It felt good when it left my hands. Some times we just have those nights where shots go down."
Jackson's teammates and coaches felt good about the shot that Jackson took.
"I wouldn't anybody else on the team to take that shot than Patrick," Chris Williams said. "He is a clutch player."
"He showed great poise," head coach Tim Buckley said. "It was a nice shot fake. That's what you hope your seniors do. They do it in big games and he's been doing that for us all year."
It wasn't just that final three the Cardinals lived by Tuesday, it was the weapon of choice for the Cards throughout the game.
In the first half Ball State shot 9-16 from behind the three-point line hitting only four other shots inside the arc. After the onslaught of threes, Ball State led at the half, 37-35.
That lead came after Ball State was unable to make shot in the first half until the 16 minute mark. Once the Cards started scoring, the first 15 points of the game came by way of three-point shots.
The barrage of three-point shots came from a variety of Cardinals as Theron Smith, Jackson, Williams and Lynch all contributed.
After retaining a slight lead the majority of the first half with the sharp shooting from behind the arc, Ball State found itself in the opposite situation the second half.
LSU lead by as many as five in the second half and maintained the lead the majority of the second half.
"They came out and they played a heck of a ball game," Jackson said. "Both teams really competed hard. And it came down to the wire with us just making some shots. Unfortunately someone had to lose."
Ball State battled back in the second half by shooting 53 percent from the three-point line for the game. The Cards finished with 14 threes on the night.
"I am really proud of our team with the way we handled some of the runs LSU made tonight," Buckley said.
Both Buckley and Jackson discussed how they thought the Pete Maravich Assembly Center was a good place to shoot. Buckley compared the Center to Northern Illinois' former home court, Chick Evans Fieldhouse.
"This is a great place to shoot.," Jackson said. "We knew they were going to be long and tall. We got in the lane and kicked it out for the open shots. We did a good job of carrying out our game plan."
One of Ball State's biggest challenges Tuesday was the Louisiana crowd.
"This is a big win for us. Especially in the hostile environment," Williams said. "I don't think we have played in a louder place than this all season other than Indiana."
According to Kent Lowe of LSU sports information, 12,696 was the largest crowd the center had seen in two years.
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