Even after Ball State had gone the final nine minutes without a field goal during the ESPN Bracket Buster on Saturday, the team still had a chance to win.
With 18 seconds remaining, junior Skip Mills pulled up for a 3-pointer that would have broken the 69-69 tie with Tennessee State. His shot, however, missed everything and opened the door for the Tigers to take one last shot at the win.
Tennessee State point guard Reiley Ervin stepped around a screen on the right wing and launched a 20-foot 3-pointer with only 0.7 seconds left in the game. The 5-foot-10 guard, who has shot 27 percent from beyond the arc this season, missed off the front of the rim but freshman Maurice Acker hit Ervin on the right arm during the shot.
The foul allowed Ervin three shots from the free-throw line. He only needed one and that's exactly what he got.
Tennessee State won their first-ever Bracket Buster 70-69, while Ball State fell to 0-4 all-time in the ESPN game series.
Ball State (9-14) was never in the game mentally, according to coach Tim Buckley. Two minutes into the game, Buckley yelled from the sidelines at Mills to "change it now" referring to the team's attitude. The change never occurred and Buckley said the team hasn't learned how to come to play every game.
"We've had 75 practices ... and the message is sent on a daily basis and it has not been grasped by this team yet," Buckley said. "Until they do, they can't have that consistency that they need to have to be a good basketball team."
The Cardinals held a seven-point lead heading into the final four minutes of the game. Tennessee State (11-14) then hit two free throws, a 3-pointer and a thunderous two-handed dunk by Larry Turner that tied the game at 69-69. Mills, who scored only two points in the second half, said the team let the game slip through their fingers in the final minutes.
"I think we just threw the game away at the end," Mills said. "We just lost our focus a little coming down at the end of the game and they made the plays."
The loss overshadowed a career night for freshman Anthony Newell. The forward scored a career-high 20 points in only 24 minutes of play. Newell went 5-of-5 from 3-point land, including a two-minute stretch during the second half when he hit three in a row to give Ball State a 52-47 lead.
"Everybody has their day in the sun, and he had his today," Tennessee State coach Cy Alexander said. "Fortunately for us, he didn't cost us the game."
Newell said his shooting was all about confidence and Buckley said Newell was the only player who looked prepared for the contest.
"He was really focused," Buckley said. "He was ready to play and the other guys were not ready to play. That's a personal, individual situation."
Junior Charles Bass played consistently for the second straight game. Bass played 19 minutes, including a second-half start, and finished nine points on 3-of-4 shooting.
The Tigers, who played only two reserve players in the game, were out-scored by Ball State 40-8 in bench scoring. It was the second game in a row that the Cards held their opponents to only eight points off the bench.
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