Even though two players scored career-high point totals Wednesday night, the Ball State University men's basketball team still came up short in its final home game of the season, losing to Northern Illinois 78-73.
After sharing the lead back-and-forth for the most of the game, the Cardinals couldn't hold on against the Mid-American Conference West leader in the final minutes. With the loss, Ball State (9-17 overall, 5-12) will play its first game of the MAC Tournament, which begins on Monday, on the road.
Ball State headed into Wednesday's game with the intent to play with more energy and passion than it did in a 27-point loss to Toledo Sunday. The Cards opened the game well, pulling ahead by nine points with 12 minutes to play in the first half.
The Huskies, who were playing without its second-leading scorer James Hughes due to injury, used its 3-point shooting to comeback and regain the lead for the final minutes of the game. Northern Illinois shot 56 percent from beyond-the-arc.
Ball State came within three points of the Huskies within the last 1:20 but Northern Illinois made its final six free throws of the game to keep Ball State at bay.
Northern Illinois coach Rob Judson said his team's second-half play was the key to the game.
"We only turned [the ball] over four times in the second half, and we were able to get the ball to the basket," Judson said.
Ball State juniors D'Andre Peyton and Charles Bass erupted against the Huskies, pouring in 21 points and 15 points, respectively. The point totals were both career-highs for the juniors.
Bass, who reached double-figures for the first time since Dec. 31, said he entered the game wanting to be more aggressive after Sunday's lackluster performance by the team.
"[I was] just being aggressive, and I think that was the mentality of the whole team," Bass said. "With a team such as Northern, we wanted to pressure them offensively and defensively and pressure the ball, make them uncomfortable."
Coach Tim Buckley said Bass lived up to his expectations on the offensive end.
"Offensively, he did tonight what we've expected from him since he got in uniform," Buckley said.
Junior Skip Mills finished with 19 points on 7-of-18 shooting. It was the most points he's scored since putting in 27 points against Buffalo on Feb. 7.
Ball State did a much better job taking care of the ball on Wednesday compared to its performance against Toledo. The Cardinals turned the ball over 22 times on Sunday but they dropped that total to only eight against the Huskies.
The Cards allowed Northern Illinois forward Zach Pancratz to tie his career-high with 18 points on the night. Pancratz shot 3-of-5 from 3-point land and the 6-foot-5 sophomore caused defensive match-up problems for Ball State. Buckley said Pancratz helped spread the Huskies offense and help them get good looks at the basket.
"They had him matched against our power forward, and I thought he did a good job of keeping our guys off-balance with the 3-point shot," Buckley said.
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