Despite three straight losses, dropping the team's record to 7-6 in Mid-American Conference play, Ball State still has a fighting chance for the West Division title.
Among the Cardinals' five remaining league games are the three teams ahead of them (12-9 overall) in the division standings. They meet the first one tonight at Anderson Arena in Bowling Green. With Western Michigan's loss Tuesday, Bowling Green leads the West by virtue of percentage points.
A victory over the Falcons (8-5 MAC) would give the Cards a season sweep, as they downed BG on Jan. 18 by an 86-62 count.
"They're playing good basketball," Ball State coach Tim Buckley said of the Falcons. "I think they were when they came here, but obviously they've got better and changed since the last time we faced them."
"They're right in the thick of the race, and they want to maintain the home court, just like everyone else."
One thing that hasn't changed is BG's sharpshooting offense.
Ball State held Bowling Green to just 25 points in the second half and 41-percent shooting, as well as forcing 19 turnovers, in the team's first meeting. However, that appears to have been an anomaly, as the Falcons still lead the league in shooting at 50 percent. They also lead the league in assists.
Bowling Green's top two scorers -- senior forwards Josh Almanson and John Reimold -- are the only MAC players shooting above 50 percent, and Almanson is hitting 61.5 percent. The senior tandem is averaging 17.2 and 17.0 points per game, respectively.
Reimold has drained a league-best 48.7 percent of his three-point attempts this season.
Ball State, meanwhile is last in the league in assists, with just 11.6 per game, but it also has committed the fewest turnovers in the league (12.4). The Cards committed just six turnovers Saturday at Buffalo, but Buckley said the team still made defensive mistakes down the stretch in a 67-58 loss.
"The successful teams very rarely are the teams that beat themselves," he said. "These are teams you have to beat because they don't beat themselves. At the end of that game we beat ourselves."
Sophomore Peyton Stovall and senior Dennis Trammell rank sixth and seventh in the MAC scoring ranks, averaging 16.8 and 16.4 points per game, respectively. Senior forward Terrance Chapman (14.0) is second in the MAC with 9.4 rebounds per game.
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