Upset

With ball in hand, Kent State's Antonio Gates bodied up with Chris Williams. Williams drew contact and fell to the floor, drawing the charge from Gates. It was Gates' fifth foul, removing him from the contest with 22 points and four rebounds.

"When he got the ball I was thinking 'I'm going to take this charge,'" Williams said. "It definitely changed the momentum. Getting him out of the ball game really gave us the momentum."

Three of Gates' fouls came by way of a charge. After the game, Kent State coach Jim hristian explained what it meant for his team to lose Gates with nearly four minutes remaining.

"It hurt us because one of the reasons we have won a lot of close games is because we are able to get him the ball," Christian said. "He is our best decision maker with the basketball so it hurt us not having him in the game."

Buckley said there was some emphasis put on Gates' physical play heading into Wednesday game.

"He is a player that likes to initiate contact and I thought Chris anticipated it well," Buckley said. "We were fortunate enough that it was his fifth foul because he's a big part of the game."

Gates fouling out of the game was one of the single most important plays of the game for Ball State, but throughout the contest, it was the Cardinal 3-point defense that allowed Ball State to stay within reach of the Golden Flashes.

Heading into the game, Kent State was the nation's leader in 3-point percentage, averaging 42 percent from behind the arc. Wednesday, Ball State held the Flashes to a mere 27 percent.

"We are usually a much better 3-point shooting team than that but I thought Ball State did a great job of getting to our shooters quickly and making us drive the ball to the basket," Christian said.

Buckley called it the key to his team's success against the MAC East Division leader.

"You aren't going to stop Antonio Gates so you have to try to stop someone else," he said. "So, what we wanted to do was limit Eric Haut's 3-point shots. We wanted to make him take tough shots."

Haut was 3 of 10 from behind the arc Wednesday night. Before the game, Haut was No. 3 in the nation in 3-point percentage, averaging 49 percent.

Holding the Flashes well below their 3-point average allowed Ball State to stay close the entire game. The largest lead Kent State was able to build was a five-point lead on three different occasions.

Four Cardinals finished in double figures, as both Williams and Matt McCollom tallied 22 and 20 points, respectively.

Contributing on two levels was Cameron Echols, who marked his tenth double-double of the season with a game-high 12 rebounds and 18 points.

Afterwards, Williams expressed the same disbelief his coach did in regards to Ball State's early season struggles.

"I can't believe at one point that we lost seven games in a row," Williams said. "I have to give a lot of credit to our team for fighting back and be able to beat a team like Kent State. To be back at .500 is terrific for us after our rough start."

Buckley credited his team's recovery from those tough times to several things, one of which was student and fan support.

"The crowd has been outstanding and they have been outstanding through the tough times also," Buckley said. "Our guys feed off of the crowd. I'll be honest with you. I think its difficult for a team to have to come down the court and not only play against five guys, but a home crowd. That's what our student body and rest of our fans have done here at home."

He also credited his team's character.

"It's all been the players," he said. "You look at how far down we were and they never quit battling. They came in and worked hard everyday."