Men's Basketball Falls To Ball State, 89-77

Wednesday, January 9

Muncie, Ind.

7:00 PM ET

Central Michigan University

Ball St

1/9/2002 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball

MUNCIE, Ind. - The Central Michigan men's basketball team dropped its third straight conference game, falling to Ball State, 89-77.

The Chippewas are now 3-8 overall with a 0-3 mark in the Mid-American Conference. Ball State improves to 9-5, 2-1 in the MAC.

The Chippewas put themselves in a position to take the lead late in the second half when a lay-up by Chris Kaman with 5:04 left in the game cut the Cardinals' lead to two points, 75-74. However, the CMU offense failed to score another field goal in the final five minutes. Ball State upped its lead to nine points on seven unanswered free throws. CMU could only respond with three freebies in the closing minutes.

Most of the first half belonged to the Chippewas as they jumped out to an early 7-0 lead. CMU seemed to be in control of the ball game when Chad Pleiness hit a jumper to give Central a 13-point cushion with 5:55 before the half, 34-21.

But, the Cardinal defense sparked the offense late in the first half. BSU's Lonnie Jones swatted away two Central shots and Chris Williams had 15 points in the final five minutes before the break. A lay-up by Williams with five seconds left in the first gave Ball State a 44-43 halftime lead.

David Webber had 19 points at the half while Williams led the Cardinals with 17 points.

Ball State led the entire second half. Central hung around the first six minutes of play as BSU could only maintain a six-point advantage over the Chippewas. But, when CMU's offense stalled in the final five minutes, Ball State was able to up its lead and secure the victory.

The Cardinals shot 48 percent from the floor while CMU hit on 40 percent of its shots. Both teams made it to the foul line 26 times but BSU hit on 22 attempts to Central's 21. All of Ball State's free-throw attempts came in the second half.

Webber led the Chippewas with a game-high 30 points. It is Webber's fifth 30-point night of his career. Chad Pleiness had 14 points and Gerrit Brigitha chipped in 10. Whitney Robinson had four points but tallied a career-high 10 boards.

Patrick Jackson led the Cardinals with 26 points. Williams added 21 and Theron Smith had 15 points coupled with 15 boards.

The Chippewas return to action this Saturday, Jan. 12, when they battle archrival Western Michigan in Kalamazoo. Tipoff in University Arena is set for 2 p.m.