As coach Billy Taylor spoke about his steadfast confidence in Jauwan Scaife to make clutch plays in the postgame press conference, Ball State’s senior guard never looked up.
He sat his with his head nearly touching the stat sheet, shaking it slightly as if reliving his chance at the line.
“Jauwan typically steps up and hits those free throws for us,” Taylor said. “And he is down and disappointed in himself.”
With 44.9 seconds left in the game, Scaife missed both of his double-bonus free throws with Buffalo up one point, 61-60.
A 3-pointer by the Bulls’ Will Regan on the next possession squashed any realistic hope for the Cardinals, as Wednesday’s 66-63 loss pushed their Mid-American Conference losing streak to four games.
After Scaife’s miss, Buffalo ran the shot clock down before Regan spotted up at the top of the key for one of his four 3-pointers.
Ball State’s Majok Majok closed out on the sophomore forward, but he buried the shot for three of his 17 points.
“With it being a one point game, [Javon] McCrea is their guy, the one they’re looking to,” Taylor said. “We forced a contested shot and a ball that bounces straight up in the air, hits the top of the backboard and bounces straight down. I’ve never seen a bounce like that before.
I thought we did everything right on that one.”
For Buffalo (7-12, 2-3 MAC), enough things went right to squeeze out a three-point win over Ball State (7-10, 1-4 MAC).
Junior forward Majok Majok got in foul trouble early and managed 13 points in only 19 minutes of action.
Foul trouble from the Cardinals other junior forward, Matt Kamieniecki, opened up acres of space for the Bulls’ junior forward McCrea to work.
The MAC East Division Player of the Week had 24 points — 12 in each half — on 10-of-12 shooting, while adding seven rebounds for the game.
“Obviously he’s a great player,” Kamieniecki said. “We talked before the game about keying on him and trying to make it difficult. [McCrea’s eight turnovers], we did well in that aspect. But we’ve just got to play him a little tougher.”
Despite Ball State’s 31-29 lead at the half, Buffalo continued to find ways to get McCrea the ball and wear down the defense.
When the Bulls’ ball screen roll-and-replace action wasn’t getting the Newark, New York native isolated near the basket, the McCrea used his team’s constant motion on offense to get position for offensive-rebound putbacks.
“You can practice that [positioning] and get good at it so you know when the shot is going to be taken and where they’re going to be taken from,” coach Reggie Witherspoon said. “If the court is spread, you can get some one-on-one chances to get to the glass.”
McCrea had five offensive rebounds, but Ball State finished with a 33-30 rebounding advantage.
That was bolstered by Kamieniecki’s eight rebounds — five offensive — to go along with nine points.
His energy and Scaife’s timely shooting kept the game close in the second half.
Over the final 7:03, the lead changed four times.
One of those was on a Scaife 3-pointer to give Ball State a 58-57 lead with 3:52 remaining. Taylor pumped both his fists after the basket, but it would be the last time.
Scaife’s misses at the line in the final minute capped an 18-point performance on a night where he was honored for surpassing 1,000 points for his career before the game.
Regardless of any accomplishments or near-win scenarios, Ball State players aren’t taking any moral victories at this point.
“We’ve just got to find a way to finish games out,” Kamieniecki said. “We’ve been in every game so far in MAC play. We just have to find a way to pull games out.”
