Ball State (14-16, 7-10 MAC) lost its 21-point lead in its last home game Tuesday night to the Central Michigan Chippewas (14-16, 7-10 MAC). This jeopardizes the Cardinals' MAC Cleveland hopes, as a set of tiebreakers is needed for the Cardinals to make the MAC Tournament.
Here are three takeaways.
Trouble playing 40 hard minutes.
The Cardinals held their lead for 37 out of the 40 minutes in Tuesday's game, the defensive pressure that the Cardinals played with throughout the game depleted late in the second half as the Chippewas went on an 11-point run led by senior guard Jakobi Heady who slashed through the paint with ease building momentum into the Chippewas comeback.
The effort from the Cardinals frontcourt shortened in the matter of seconds as Central Michigan only had the lead for 45 seconds of the entire game.
Never the less it didn't help that senior forward Mickey Pearson wasn't able to bring his defensive presence down low as he didn't play much during the Chippewas run.
Getting outpaced.
Central Michigan outscored the Cardinals in fastbreak points 10-2 and it simply goes to the root of Tuesday’s loss. Second half defensive matters extremely in games like this.
The Chippewas were led in scoring by Heady and senior guard Anthony Pritchard, both having 18 points each, ironically, Heady and Pritchard only hit one three-point shot each, so finding ways to get the ball off in transition and cut through the lanes is what truly defeated the Cardinals Tuesday night.
Once again it all goes back to that defensive frontcourt presence that the Cardinals seem to always lose track of, the whole 40 minutes in most games.
Getting left behind on the backboard.
Lately, the Chippewas outrebounded the Cardinals 33 to 26. it's not necessarily the fact that the Cardinals were outrebounded. It was a matter of how crucial those seven rebounds came in the duration of the second half.
Attempting unnecessary perimeter shots late in the game is what truly killed the Cardinals and allowed Central Michigan's front court to take advantage of doubling down on Cardinals senior center Payton Sparks, and further leading onto outlet passes that later became faster points.
Going forward this can't happen as often anymore when you get into late conference play games, every little piece to getting the win matters, yeah the Cardinals only loss by two points and the Chippewa's only led the game for 45 seconds, but stats like fast break points, second chance baskets and defensive rebounds are what truly count towards those two points.
With this loss added to the Cardinals' record, they look to refocus in the next three days and do what they can to stay alive in the race for the final spot in the MAC tournament. They take on the Miami (OH) Redhawks ( 22-8, 13-4 MAC) on the road in Oxford, Ohio on March 7th. tipoff is scheduled for 2 PM.
Contact Calvin Scott via email at calvin.scott@bsu.edu or X @CalvinAJScott.
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