Chippewas Drop Close 82-80 Decision to Ball State

Tuesday, January 21

Mount Pleasant, Mich.

7:00 PM

Central Michigan University

8-10,2-4MAC

Ball State

9-9,3-3MAC

Ball St.

Central Mich.

Chippewas Down Coppin State 82-59 Behind Nathan Claerbaut's Second Straight Double-Double

Friday, November 14

Men's Basketball Plays Coppin State in Final Showdown at St. Pete on Friday

Thursday, November 13

Chippewas Edged by South Alabama in Close Contest, 66-64

Thursday, November 13

Chippewas Travel to Florida for Two Games at the Showdown in St. Pete

Tuesday, November 11

Next Event

Western Michigan

W, 73-52

Jan 25 (Sat)

7:00 PM

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Team Stats

BSU

CMU

FG%

.540

.464

3FG%

.450

.368

FT%

.760

.692

STL

Cayden Vasko

/ Men's Basketball

Photo by: Madison Davidson '25 - @_mld.jpeg

Photo by: Lauren Verellen '26 - @laurenverellen_photography

Photo by: Lauren Verellen

Photo by: Lauren Verellen '26 - @laurenverellen_photography

1/21/2025 10:10:00 PM | Men's Basketball

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Chippewas squander 13-point second half lead, get down by nine points but battle all the way back and almost win the game at the end; Quentin Heady leads CMU with career-high 17 points, Bryan Ndjonga scores a career-high 15, Anthony Pritchard adds 15, and Damarion Bonds finishes with 14; Chippewas drop their third MAC game by two points.

By: Greg Hotchkiss

MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich.—Ball State's Jeremiah Hernandez converted three free throws with four seconds to play and the Cardinals overcame a 13-point second half deficit with 66.7 percent second half shooting to register a close 82-80 men's basketball win over Central Michigan Tuesday evening at McGuirk Arena.

Ball State trailed by eight points at halftime and then by 13 points (50-37) at the 16:23 mark. From that point on, the Cardinals converted 14 of their last 18 shots the rest of the way and outscored CMU 29-9 over a 10-minute span. When the dust settled, Ball State held its largest lead of the game, 68-59 with 5:38 to play.

The Chippewas battled all the way back and made it interesting in the end. Trailing by five points (79-74) with 54 seconds to play, Central Michigan went on a 5-0 run to tie the game at 79-79 with 19 seconds to play. Cayden Vasko hit a key 3-pointer off a fast break, then Anthony Pritchard stole the ball and found Jakobi Heady for a layup to tie the game.

But CMU was called for a foul while Hernandez was in the act of shooting a 3-pointer. Hernandez hit all three free throws for an 82-79 lead with four seconds to play. On the inbounds pass, Ball State fouled Pirtchard, who made the first free throw with two seconds left, then missed the second on purpose in hopes of grabbing the offensive rebound. Ball State's Mickey Pearson grabbed the rebound and the game was over.

Six Ball State players reached double figure scoring led by Mickey Pearson, who finished with 16 points. Jeremiah Hernandez scored 15 points, Payton Sparks and Jeremiah Hill added 14 points apiece, Ethan Brittain-Watts finished with 13, and Juanse Gorosito had 10. The Cardinals converted 54.0 percent (27-50) from the floor, the second-highest against CMU this year, 60 percent (6-10) from 3-point range, and made 19-25 free throws.

The decision was Central Michigan's third MAC loss by two points. The loss drops Central Michigan to 2-4 in the MAC and 8-10 overall, while Ball State improves to 3-3 in the MAC and 9-9 overall. Including tonight's game, Central Michigan will play four of its next five games at home where the Chippewas have now won 15 of their last 19 contests.

Playing without starting center Ugnius Jarusevicius, Central Michigan was led by Quentin Heady, who put together a spectacular night with a career-high 17 points and a career-high 8-12 field goals. Quentin Heady scored 15 of his game-high 17 points in the first half. He also added three steals and four rebounds. Bryan Ndjonga added a career-high 15 points (6-9 FG) with seven rebounds, Anthony Pritchard scored 15 points (7-19 FG) with a game-high six assists and steals, and Damarion Bonds came off the bench to scored 14 points and hit 4-8 3-pointers. The Chippewas finished with 12 steals, their second-highest team total of the year.

CMU dropped to 0-3 without Jarusevicius on the court.

Quentin Heady and Damarion Bonds sparked Central Michigan in the first half as the duo combined for 26 of CMU's 41 points and 11-15 shooting from the floor as the Chippewas built a 41-33 lead heading into halftime. Quentin Heady was a beast as he surpassed his career-highs for points (15) and field goals made (seven) and Bonds added 11 points and came alive from 3-point range.

The Chippewas used an 11-0 run to take control of the game and build a 32-21 lead with 4:22 to play in the first half. Quentin Heady sparked the Chippewas with four points in the run. With the score tied at 21-21, Ndjonga hit a 3-pointer at the top of the key for a 24-21 lead, Pritchard made it 26-21 on a driving layup, VanderJagt drove to the basket for a layup and seven-point lead 28-21 at the 4:42. The Heady finished on a thunderous dunk, then scored on a layup for the 32-21 lead.

Later, Central Michigan used a 6-0 lead to take the 41-33 lead into halftime. Quentin Heady grabbed an offensive rebound and finished off a layup, Bonds drilled a 3-pointer, then Heady hit 1-2 free throws for a 10-point lead (38-25) with 1:31 to play in the first half. After a Ball State free throw, Bonds hit another 3-pointer for the Chippewas' 41^stpoint.

Ball State outscored Central Michigan 13-2 over a three-minute span to take its first lead since early in the first half. The Cardinals put together a 9-0 run to take a 58-56 lead with 10:12 to play in the game. Hill converted two free throws, then hit a layup. Sparks scored in a tipin, then Pearson swished a 3-pointer to give Ball State a 58-56 lead with 10:12 to play in the game.

Ball State used another 10-0 run to go up 68-59.

Central Michigan started Jakobi Heady, Quentin Heady, Bryan Ndjonga, Vasko, and Pritchard for the second straight game.

The game featured 11 lead changes and five ties.

Next up, the Chippewas will next host Western Michigan for the Toilet Paper Toss on Saturday a 7 p.m. A limited number of general admission tickets and $75 Upper Club Lounge tickets are still available. Fans can order season tickets by calling Ticket Central at (989) 774-3045, by ordering on this link, or by stopping by Ticket Central located in the John G. Kulhavi Events Center between 10 a.m. and 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. Single-game tickets are also on sale. For more information, click here.

—CMU—