The Ball State University men's basketball team lost 55-53 in overtime to visiting Eastern Michigan University today at Worthen Arena, but due to a couple of other Sunday Mid-American Conference games, the Cardinals still earned a share of the MAC West Division title and the No. 2 seed in this week's MAC Tournament in Cleveland.
Following their loss to Eastern Michigan, the Cardinals (13-16, 7-9 MAC) needed Central Michigan University to defeat Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo, Mich., in order to get the share of the MAC West title. Western Michigan came into today's game tied atop the MAC West standings with Ball State, and Central Michigan was one game behind both the Cardinals and the Broncos.
The Chippewas answered Ball State's prayers and defeated the host Broncos 71-68, forcing a three-way tie between Central Michigan, Western Michigan and Ball State for the MAC West crown with a 7-9 league record.
It doesn't end there.
Due to MAC tiebreaker rules, the first tiebreaker to determine which MAC West team earns the No. 2 seed in the MAC Tournament is head-to-head competition. That tiebreaker is deemed neutral this season due to Ball State going 1-1 against Western and Central Michigan and the Chippewas and the Broncos splitting their season series at one game apiece.
The next tiebreaker is winning percentage against ranked conference teams, which took Western Michigan out of the running due to its 1-5 record against the MAC East, which features the top six teams record-wise in the MAC this season.
Ball State and Central Michigan both went 2-4 against the MAC East this season, but both defeated separate MAC East No. 1 seeds entering today's games. Those two MAC East leaders - the University at Buffalo and Miami University - also played against each other today.
In order for Ball State to move on, it needed Buffalo, who the Cardinals defeated 53-51 on Feb. 15, to defeat Miami, who Central Michigan defeated 57-55 on Feb. 10.
And that's exactly what happened. The Bulls defeated the RedHawks 70-67 in overtime in today's game, catapulting the Cardinals into the No. 2 seed for this week's MAC Tournament, which means Ball State has a bye through the first round and plays the winner of the No. 7/No. 10 seed game on Thursday.
The MAC West title for Ball State is its first since the 2001-02 season.
Leading the Cardinals on senior day was senior guard/forward Rob Giles with a double-double - a game-high 18 points and 14 rebounds. Brandon Lampley and Laron Frazier - the other active seniors for Ball State - scored eight and 10 points, respectfully, in the game.
Freshman center Jarrod Jones contributed seven points and nine rebounds, and sophomore forward Malik Perry had eight points and six boards, including four on the offensive glass in Ball State's second-straight overtime loss.
For Eastern Michigan (13-16, 7-9 MAC) - winners of a MAC-best four straight games - three players had double-digit scoring totals. Forward Brandon Bowdry had a double-double with a team-high 13 points and 11 rebounds, while forward Justin Dobbins had 11 points and nine rebounds and guard Antonio Green added 10 points in the win.
Due to Ball State's Spring Break this week, the Daily News will not be in print, so continue to check out bsudailynews.com for complete coverage of today's game and continuing coverage of the Cardinals this week.
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