CLEVELAND -- With four minutes left in the game, Will Regan got a crosscourt pass from a teammate and extended a long pump fake before pulling the ball back with a smile.
The sophomore forward reluctantly, yet smartly, passed up a 3-pointer with his team up 13 points, but who could blame him?
Regan lit up Ball State from deep, scoring 15 of his game-high 36 points from 3-point range in Buffalo’s 76-61 win in the second round of the Mid-American Conference Tournament on Wednesday.
“He got it going early [in the second half] when we had a miscommunication and he got a comfortable three,” Ball State coach Billy Taylor said. “He made a couple tough ones after that, but he got into a great offensive rhythm and they really had us spread out where we were chasing them all over the place.”
The Bulls’ constant movement kept the Cardinals scrambling to help and recover on all the options available in their spread offense.
Ball State’s coverage was solid for the first 20 minutes, holding Buffalo to 28.6 percent (8-of-28) shooting and 30 points in the first half.
Senior guard Jauwan Scaife scored 11 of his 17 first-half points over the final 4:43 of the half, making the Cardinals’ 36-30 halftime lead seem like it should’ve been double that.
“Six point lead—we just weren’t satisfied with that,” Taylor said. “All it took were a couple of threes in the second half and the game was tied back up.”
Those came courtesy of Regan, who finished 11-of-17 from the field, 5-of-7 from 3-point range and a perfect 9-of-9 from the free throw line.
The Virginia transfer mixed in his lethal touch from outside with slip-screens to the rim for easy layups.
Buffalo’s entire frontcourt took advantage of late help-side defense by Ball State to score 30 points in the paint.
Easy and efficient offense by the Bulls produced 10 quick points after the Cardinals led 43-42 at the 15:21 mark of the second half.
“It all happened kind of fast,” Scaife said. “Guys made some mental mistakes and then they hit some shots and got into a rhythm. We tried to make adjustments, but we didn’t make them fast enough because they burned us on the back side of that as well.”
Over the next eight-plus minutes, Ball State scored only six points and trailed 60-49.
Scaife tried to bail his team out with timely 3-pointers and drives, but every basket he made was quickly answered on the other end.
With around six minutes left, Ball State’s body language took on a defeated attitude.
Buffalo stretched to the lead to as much as 20 points with 2:03 left, but late shots cut the final deficit down to 15 in possibly Taylor’s last game as coach.
After the game, he addressed his team’s 15-15 season as well as his future with one year remaining on his contract.
“I think this team did a lot special things,” Taylor said. “I know it may not come across that way or be received that way, and I understand that. But I’m proud of what these guys did and I’d never back away from the effort these guys gave every single day.”
While Taylor’s future is still uncertain, Wednesday’s game was Scaife’s last at Ball State.
The Muncie native scored 28 points on 10-of-22 shooting, including seven shots from deep to become Ball State’s all-time leader in 3-point field goals made.
Scaife ended his career on a tear, scoring double figures in his 16 games, including eight 20-point games.
“After the game he went to shake my hand and I said, ‘We can’t shake on that, that’s a hug performance,” Buffalo coach Reggie Witherspoon said. “Watching him on video, he was hot as a pistol coming into the game and he stayed that way. For me, I was getting World B. Free flashbacks.”
Free was a former NBA player in the 1970s and ‘80s known for his vertical leap and high-risk shot making, but not even professional antics could save Ball State’s season.
Buffalo advanced to play Kent State on Wednesday in the third round of the MAC Tournament.
“In a conference tournament you might be able to play bad and survive, but the way we played in the second half, we couldn’t survive the mistakes we were making,” Taylor said.
