As practices become shorter, days off become more common and the Ball State University men's basketball team attempts to contend with the wear and tear most athletic teams struggle through toward the end of the season.
However the Cardinals could be four games away from a prize that will make all the extra trips to the training room and repetitive practice routines worth it all: a Mid-American Conference West Division Championship.
Ball State has been atop the MAC West standings since the conference season began with a win at Eastern Michigan University on Jan. 10 and begins its final push to win the division tonight when the Cardinals play host to Central Michigan University at 7 p.m. in Worthen Arena.
Second-year coach Billy Taylor said his team is thrilled to be contending for a divisional title with March a week away.
"It's one of our goals to win the MAC West," Taylor said. "We've made tremendous strides this year, our program has, to be even be sitting in this position where we're talking about winning the MAC West title in our second year with everything we've been through and it's really a huge step for our program."
The Cardinals (12-13, 6-6 MAC) are tied with Western Michigan University atop the MAC West standings and are looking to avenge a 71-65 loss at Central Michigan (9-16, 5-7 MAC) from Jan. 17.
"[Central Michigan is] playing a little bit differently now as opposed to when we played them the first time around," Taylor said. "I think they're really doing a nice job of controlling the tempo of games. They've done a great job of defending their home court."
In its loss to Central Michigan earlier this season, Ball State had to deal with a shortened bench for much of the second half after freshman guard Randy Davis was ejected for his role in a scuffle on the floor with 17:28 remaining in the game. In addition, senior guard Rob Giles fouled out of the game with 1:57 remaining.
"We've got to play smarter," Taylor said. "I'm hoping that we learned that and we put that in our favor here at home and can play aggressive defense - full-court and half-court defense - and really make Central work for every opportunity they get."
Junior guard Jordan Bitzer scored a career-high 21 points on 7-of-9 shooting from the field, including 3-for-4 from 3-point range and 4-for-4 at the free-throw line against the Cardinals.
Ball State senior guard Laron Frazier said Bitzer - Central Michigan's third highest scorer this season averaging 12.5 points per game behind senior forwards Chris Kellermann (14.4) and Marcus Van (12.8) - was able to benefit from added attention to the Chippewas backcourt.
"In the scouting reports, we knew a lot about him, but in that game, he was just going out and hitting his shots," Frazier said. "We played some pretty good defense on him and he was going out and making some big shots, so in this game, we'll really have to key on him and make sure our guys are getting stops."
Freshman center Jarrod Jones said overall the key to winning the MAC West starts tonight with a win against Central Michigan.
"It's very important because now we have to try to get wins all the way through on the Western side so we can keep that No. 1 spot," said Jones, the team's leading scorer and rebounder. "I know Central has been playing well lately, so it's going to be a big game and I'm sure they're going to be fighting to get that No. 1 spot, too."
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