Ball State finished 2004 with a dud, but started anew last week with a pair of Mid-American Conference wins at home. The Cardinals now stand at 7-4 overall (2-1 MAC) heading into Wednesday's game at preseason MAC West favorite Toledo.
Butler 74, Ball State 68
Ball State's three-game win streak was snapped on Dec. 22 as the Bulldogs led by as many as 17 in the first half and 37-22 at halftime. Senior Terrance Chapman and sophomore Skip Mills each scored 14 points in the second half, but BSU's comeback fell short in the final minute.
Indiana 71, Ball State 59
The Cardinals never recovered from an early 25-6 deficit, shooting a season-low 32.7 percent and committing 24 turnovers. Indiana snapped a six-game losing streak with the Dec. 28 victory. Chapman noticed a double-double with 18 points and 14 rebounds, while senior Dennis Trammell added 16 points.
Ball State 76, Kent State 67
The Cardinals started the new year with a 76-67 win over Kent State.
Chapman and sophomore Peyton Stovall both pitched in 18 points to lead all scorers, while Mills added 12 points along with his strong defense against Kent State's point guard DeAndre Haynes.
Buckley said that during halftime of the Indiana game Mills told him he liked guarding the point and wanted to do it more often. Buckley kept that in the back of his mind and gave him the opportunity Sunday. Mills held Haynes to 11 points on 4-15 shooting.
"Haynes is so quick but Skip is a very good on-the-ball defender, and he has wanted the challenge for some time," Buckley said.
Before taking questions from the media, Mills thanked Buckley for giving him the opportunity to guard Haynes.
"I took it as a challenge because I really don't like people scoring on me on defense," Mills said. "I was looking forward to guarding somebody that was supposed to be one of the best players in the MAC."
While Mills defense was impressive, Kent State head coach Jim Christian said his team's lack of defense was the difference in the game.
"For us, this game was lost on the defensive end of the floor," Christian said. "We couldn't get any big stops. I thought they out-hustled us to every loose ball, and you can't win on the road when stuff like that happens."
Ball State 81, Ohio 80
Ball State shouldn't have been in the situation, but Chapman pulled the Cardinals out of it.
After letting Ohio overcome a 16-point halftime deficit the Cards used three-pointers from Stovall and Chapman to help win the game.
Chapman's trey with two seconds left won the game. Prior to the game he was 0 of 15 this season from beyond the arc, but hit 2 of 2s against Ohio.
"I wasn't worried about it too much. I knew I was going to hit one sooner or later," Chapman said. "I picked the perfect time to step up and make one."
Ohio's head coach Tim O'Shea said he thought his team deserved to win.
"I thought we did everything we could to win the game and it didn't go our way at the very end, but I'm very proud of my team," he said.
Stovall finished with a career-high 24 points thanks in part to six treys he hit. Five of those came in the first half, and he hit his sixth with 28 seconds remaining.
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