The Ball State University men's basketball team now effectively has an open patch to its second-straight Mid-American Conference West Division championship after defeating Central Michigan University 69-63 tonight at Worthen Arena.
Ball State and Central Michigan came into the game tied atop the MAC West. With the win, the Cardinals (14-11, 8-5 MAC) effectively move into a two-game lead in the division and hold the tiebreaker in the West, securing at No. 2 seed and a first-round bye in the MAC Tournament with three MAC games remaining.
Leading the way for Ball State was sophomore guard Randy Davis with a career-high 24 points on 8-of-13 shooting from the field. Freshman guard Jauwan Scaife added 18 points on 12-of-14 free-throw shooting for the Cardinals.
For Central Michigan (12-13, 7-6 MAC), senior guard Jordan Bitzer had a team-high 18 points on just 5-of-19 shooting.
The Cardinals took control in the first half and led by 11, 36-25, at halftime. But a 16-0 second-half run for the Chippewas, however, gave Central Michigan the lead, reversing the fortunes on Ball State.
The Cardinals responded, however. A 16-foot jumper from sophomore center Jarrod Jones, a 3 from Davis and a fast break layup from Scaife gave the Cardinals the lead with about five minutes to go that it wouldn't give up.
Ball State returns to play Saturday in a break from conference play as it plays host to the University of Tennessee at Martin in the ESPNU BracketBusters game. The Cardinals' next MAC game is Nov. 24 when it plays host to Eastern Michigan University.
For complete coverage of tonight's game, check out tomorrow's print edition of The Ball State Daily News.
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