Central Michigan University
12-6, 1-4MAC
Ball State
12-6, 3-2MAC
Chippewas Fall At Ball State
1/16/2018 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Andy Sneddon, CMUChippewas.com
MUNCIE, Ind. - Luke Meyer had a career night, but Central Michigan needed more on the road on Tuesday night against what is expected to be one of the Mid-American Conference's top teams.
Meyer, a 6-foot-10 ½ senior, hit six 3-pointers en route to 26 points and hauled down 14 rebounds - all three totals were career highs - to lead the Chippewas on Tuesday in their 82-76 loss at Ball State.
CMU slipped to 12-6, 1-4 MAC with its fourth straight loss. The Chippewas go to Bowling Green (12-6, 3-2) on Saturday (3:30 p.m.).
Jeremie Tyler came off the bench to score 21 points to lead the Cardinals (12-6, 3-2), who made 50 percent of their field goal attempts while holding CMU to 36.1 percent from the floor.
"We don't shoot well from 3, we don't shoot well from the free throw line, you're playing at Ball State who's picked to (finish at the top of the) league and it's a two-possession game at the end," CMU coach Keno Davis said. "I'm really proud of our team in that we were able to play that hard and were able to make up for a night when we couldn't get a shot to go in or finish a play.
"To be in that game shows the character of this team. We understand we're not that far away from being as good as anybody in this conference, but we're going to have to continue to work to get there."
Meyer, who has started every game - Tuesday was No. 115 -- since he set foot on campus in 2014-15, finished 9 of 14 from the floor including 6 of 10 from 3-point range. His nine field goals also marked a season high.
"Sometimes with bigger guys, they just take a little longer to develop," Davis said. "But what a great attitude he's had through it, a great worker … Really proud of the way he's been able to persevere and get better going through it."
Shawn Roundtree Jr. and Cecil Williams added 16 and 14 points, respectively, for the Chippewas, who finished with a 47-35 rebounding edge. CMU had 21 offensive rebounds to Ball State's eight.
"The last three games that we've lost, we lost all three of them on the boards and we said that's not going to happen because we said we're going to get after it, and we did," Davis said. "I thought we played harder than we have, I thought we rebounded better than we have and maybe by going that hard maybe our timing offensively wasn't quite where we needed it to be."
Ball State led for the vast majority of the game, but the Chippewas hung in and were down six, 75-69, with just over a minute remaining. Ball State, however, scored five of the next six points to pull out to an 80-70 advantage with 25 seconds to play to ice it.
