KALAMAZOO, Mich. -- Ball State hurled a blizzard of three-pointers at Western Michigan in overcoming the loss of senior forward Terrance Chapman, but the plays that finally buried the nation's second-longest home win streak were made at the defensive end.
The Cardinals shutout Western over the final 2:36 to preserve a 66-65 decision in front of a boisterous crowd of 5,055 in University Arena, Western's first defeat in Mid-American Conference play and its first in 26 home contests.
"We're just happy because we came here to win, and we got a win," senior guard Dennis Trammell said. "We knew what we were losing when Terrance went out, so everybody had to pick up a little bit for him."
Chapman initially went down with an injured left shoulder at the 13:18 mark in the first half. He returned just 1:42 later, but re-aggravated the injury trying to score from the block. Chapman left for good with 5:44 left, and his loss coupled with some foul trouble had Buckley employing a four-guard lineup for much of the remainder of the game.
Reserves Darren Yates and Matt McCollom made good with that lineup, though, scoring 13 of their combined 16 points in the second half.
Ball State (9-5, 4-2) held the MAC's second-leading scorer, guard Ben Reed, scoreless on nine shots, including two in the final minute.
First, he went up from the left block only to have BSU center Tom Howland block the shot and rip the ball away.
Ball State had a chance to really force Western's hand, but point guard Peyton Stovall was whistled for a charging foul with 29 seconds left.
Western (13-4, 6-1) ran the clock down until Reed's jumper fell short. He grabbed the rebound, but when he tried to shoot again Trammell tied him up, and the possession arrow pointed in BSU's favor with 3.1 seconds left.
After Stovall missed a pair of free throws with 2.3 left, Reed was unable to get off a desperation heave in time.
"We have drill called 'three shutouts' where we have to get stops in a row," Stovall said. "Coach kept harping at us; it was just like practice."
Western coach Steve Hawkins thought this was more than strong defense on BSU's part.
"There was only one scenario where I envisioned that happening, and that's exactly what I'm not going to talk about," he said, thinly veiling his displeasure with the officiating. "I'm going to say something that I'll regret or get fined for."
Western staked itself a 35-29 lead at halftime, thanks to big men Levi Rost and Joe Reitz, who combined for 25 points. Reitz, a freshman, finished with 25, but Rost, the league's third-leading scorer, did not score after halftime.
Ball State took a 57-50 lead with less than 10 minutes left, thanks to a 7-0 run, only to see Western respond with seven straight of its own.
Trammell's three-point play with 4:35 left gave BSU the lead for good at 64-61. Stane's Bufford responded with two free throws 48 seconds later. Trammell's baseline one-hander was Ball State's last bucket, and the Broncos scored last on Ricky Willis' jumper with 2:52 remaining.
"We had opportunities earlier to put the game away," Hawkins said. "We were up six or eight points, and we kept stopping ourselves."
Stovall led the Cardinals with 18 points and eight rebounds. Trammell added 16 and Yates 11, including three of BSU's 10 three-pointers.
Stovall had to be pulled away after he and Willis wrestled on the floor for a loose ball in the first half. From then on, he drew boos from the student section when he touched the ball. Ball State also caused some loud commotion when it mistakenly walked to the locker room for halftime before the referees ruled there was still 1.7 seconds left on the clock.
"I think that's who we have to be," coach Tim Buckley said of building off that emotion. "That's what makes championship teams.
"That's their win; they fought and battled and played together. We lost arguably our best player and wouldn't go away."
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