In a rivalry where games decided in the last minute are the norm and buzzer-beaters really aren't a surprise, Wednesday's matchup between Ball State and Miami will be one of the most talked-about ever.
RedHawks forward Nathan Peavy put in an uncontested layup that official Tom Clark ruled beat the clock, and Miami (15-5, 10-2 Mid-American Conference) escaped Worthen Arena with a 54-52 victory, its seventh in a row.
With seven seconds left, Ball State's Dennis Trammell missed a jumper from the elbow and Chet Mason rebounded for Miami. Mason took a couple dribbles, then inexplicably threw up a half-court shot with four seconds remaining. The shot bounced off the backboard and, with nearly everyone else looking to overtime, Peavy quickly grabbed the ball and put it in.
After a couple seconds Clark, who had been standing near the three-point line, swung his arm down. Miami assistant Jermaine Henderson leaped with arms raised, and the partisan crowd began to rain boos.
In Ball State coach Tim Buckley's mind, his team should have been preparing for overtime.
"The ball's in his hands, the light's on, the horn's off," he said. "I've seen the tape; I saw the game; that's what happened."
Since the game was not a live television broadcast, the officials were not allowed to review the call, and they didn't wait long before leaving the court.
Miami coach Charlie Coles, whose team needed overtime to beat Ball State at home in December, admitted that he didn't see the play and couldn't render an opinion.
"I didn't see it. I was kind of telling Chet that we had more time, because I was ready for overtime," he said. "I looked at the ref and he said 'Good.' I don't know what happened. I didn't know Peavy had run down there."
While Ball State might feel like the game was taken from them, it was Miami that led for the first 34 minutes.
Despite porous shooting for much of the game (14 of 46), BSU stayed within striking distance thanks to 19-of-25 free-throw shooting and a plucky defensive effort.
With Ball State (12-8, 7-5) trailing 43-36, Jesse McClung's 3-pointer with 10:22 remaining triggered a 14-3 run, which gave the Cards their first lead. Trammell who had missed his first nine shots from the field, including seven three-point attempts, then drained a trey on three consecutive possessions, the last with 5:54 left.
Terrance Chapman's jumper, his only basket from the field, had the Cards up 50-46. He later found Michael Bennett for a 52-48 lead with 2:55, but the Cards missed their last four shots.
Miami responded with William Hatcher's short jumper in traffic, and Hatcher's assist to Danny Horace with 14 seconds left, setting up the final sequence.
"It hurts," Trammell said. "Like any other game we wanted, it hurts.
"My first reaction: I didn't think it counted. Then I saw the ref signal it counted ... it just shocked and felt like my heart dropped."
Trammell's roller coaster night came three days after he knocked down eight of nine from three-point range for a career-high 38 points. He came in leading the MAC by shooting 51 percent on 3-pointers.
"I thought Peavy did a good job on [Trammell] in the first half," Coles said, "but I told Peavy at halftime 'He's coming for you my man. He's coming for you.' And he did in a certain way."
Peyton Stovall scored Ball State's first seven points and also finished with 13. Chapman added just six on 1-of-6 shooting. The senior leads the MAC in offensive rebounds and grabbed 13 boards, all on the defensive end.
Hatcher tallied a game-high 16 points and added three assists. Horace, who battled with Chapman much of the game, scored nine and pulled down 12 rebounds. Miami owned a 38-29 advantage on the boards, but committed 13 turnovers to BSU's seven.
With a trip to Buffalo looming, Buckley knows his team must regroup quickly.
"We didn't lose, and that's the way we have to look at it," he said. "The kids played their hearts out. We're not looking at it like it's a loss. We're going on to the next one."
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