Every Ball State player on the floor clapped through the final 30-plus seconds as Tyrae Robinson dribbled out the clock on Senior Day.
While Saturday was a game to honor the team's seniors in Jarrod Jones, Randy Davis and Pierre Sneed, it was the subs who stole the spotlight and ultimately the win.
The Cardinals scored 44 points off the bench, including a game-high 19 points from sophomore Jesse Berry and 11 points from junior Jauwan Scaife.
Ball State built enough cushion for Davis and Jones to earn a standing ovation from the crowd with 1:58 left in the game. The two watched as Ball State cruised to a 62-51 win over Northern Illinois.
"Before the game, it kind of sunk in that this was going to be the last time I got to start at Worthen," Davis said. "But it didn't really change anything. We had a game plan when we came out [and we executed]."
That was all the reflection Davis had in him barely 30 minutes removed from his last game at home. After that, he was all business.
Miami lost to Ohio earlier in the day, so the win secured Ball State a ninth seed in the Mid-American Conference Tournament. That meant a rematch at Western Michigan where the team lost 10 days ago.
"I'm already getting ready for Western right now, Davis said. "They got us up there last time and now we've got to go up there again. It's going to be a fight."
For 32 minutes Saturday, 4-25 (3-13 MAC) Northern Illinois gave Ball State all the fight it could handle. The Huskies pressured the ball and disrupted the Cardinals continuity on offense.
"Senior Day is an emotional day," Ball State coach Billy Taylor said. "We didn't get off to a great start--our energy level wasn't there. I thought our bench came in and really amped up the energy and the intensity to where it needed to be."
An 15-4 opening run by the Huskies gave them the lead for much of the contest. That was until Berry got hot at the 8:15 mark of the second half with Northern Illinois up 44-43.
Berry hit four consecutive 3-pointers and scored Ball State's next 13 points to give the Cardinals a nine-point lead.
Whether it was from 25 feet or just behind the arc, Berry said he stopped checking his feet and just started firing.
"After you make one, you make another and want the ball back," Berry said. "You're like give it to me, give it to me. I'm hot."
Berry hit one last 3-pointer with 3:02 left to finish of Northern Illinois for good. As a team, Ball State shot 21-53 (39.6 percent) from the floor and 9-25 (36 percent) from long range on the game.
Despite the final margin of victory, Berry's shooting may have saved Ball State. Northern Illinois shot 10-21 (47.6 percent) from 3-point range on the game and got their big lead off relatively uncontested looks.
"They just got going early, so we were just digging out of that hole," Taylor said. "We just gave too much airspace early in the game. When we do that, teams get comfortable and knock it down."
Ball State finished the regular season with a 15-14 (6-10 MAC) record, but on a two-game winning streak. Regardless of the numbers, Davis said none of that matters now with a clean slate heading into tournament.
"You have a preseason, a regular season, the MAC season and now this [the tournament] season," Davis said. "To approach it now is a lot different than the other ones because now it's win or go home. If you don't go in there with that mindset, you'll be home before you know it."
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