Ball State is just falling short of playing well for a full 40-minute game.
For 36 minutes against Buffalo on Wednesday, Ball State played its best basketball of the season, playing tough defense and hitting crucial baskets that led to a 58-58 tie before the final stretch.
During the final four minutes, however, the men's basketball team lapsed on defense and went out-of-sync offensively, letting Buffalo finish on a 17-6 run and eventually leading to a 75-64 Cardinal loss, the team's seventh straight.
"We ran good offense but we missed shots," coach Tim Buckley said. "I think we read their defense well but we didn't convert."
Junior Skip Mills was the only Cardinal to hit a field goal in the last 13 minutes of the game.
The defining play of the game occurred with 3:46 remaining, when Buffalo's Yassin Idbihi scored on an offensive rebound off of a missed free throw and on the next possession a 3-pointer by Roderick Middleton squeezed the final breath of air from the Cardinals, putting Buffalo up 65-58.
"[Idbihi] made the play and led his team to the win," Buckley said. "That was the defining moment of this game and there are three or four plays that we haven't made which are the defining moments in each of our [conference] losses. We haven't made those plays but we're going to."
Ball State (4-9 overall, 0-5 MAC West) had been playing with more efficiency than it had all season before the final stages of the game.
Freshman Maurice Acker had his best game of his short career, dishing out a season-high 10 assists while scoring 15 points. It was the first points/assists double-double for a Ball State player since 1997.
Acker's constant attacks to the basket left teammates open around the perimeter. It was a strategy the team used to extend its lead to 51-47 when junior Skip Mills drilled a 3-pointer off of an Acker drive-and-kick assist with more than 10 minutes remaining in the game.
Ball State and Buffalo (13-3 overall, 3-2 MAC East) scored back-and-forth until another Mills' trey tied the game with four minutes remaining. Mills said he was impressed with Acker's play but he wants his other teammates to be more productive.
"Maurice has been playing great but we need some others to come with us," said Mills, who finished with a team-high 20 points. "Tonight was a lot of the same thing where we need more people to step up."
Buffalo held a one-point lead at halftime after Ball State went on a 7-0 run to finish out the first half.
In the middle of the run, Acker went alone against two defenders, faking a shot and sprinting between them en route to an easy lay-up. The play epitomized how Acker was punishing the Bulls' defense with his quickness and how he's gained confidence during the last five games.
"I have admired the way he's played," Buckley said. "Especially considering the last four point guards he's played have been upperclassman and very experienced players."
Junior D'Andre Peyton added 15 points on 6-of-11 shooting while freshman Jalon Perryman, who started his fourth straight game, pulled down a team-high seven rebounds.
The win was Buffalo's 13th straight at home, dating back to last season.
Buffalo played without starting forward Greg Gamble who was suspended for academic reasons.
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