Tuesday, March 4
Muncie, Ind./Worthen Arena
7:00 PM
Central Michigan University
14-16,7-10MAC
69
at
67
Ball State
14-16,7-10MAC
1
2
F
Central Mich.
22
47
69
Ball St.
39
28
67
Team Stats
CMU
BSU
FG%
.491
.436
3FG%
.278
.364
FT%
.833
.917
RB
33
26
TO
11
10
STL
6
1
Game Leaders
Scoring
Pts
18
FGM
7
3FGM
1
FTM
3
Pts
18
FGM
8
3FGM
1
FTM
1
Pts
13
FGM
4
3FGM
1
FTM
4
Pts
8
FGM
3
3FGM
2
FTM
0
Players Mentioned
G/F
/ Men's Basketball
F
/ Men's BasketballF
/ Men's BasketballG
/ Men's Basketball
F
/ Men's BasketballG
/ Men's Basketball
Photo by: Jack Reeber '23,M'25 - @jackreeber.raw
Chippewas Overcome 21-Point Deficit With Dramatic 69-67 Win at Ball State
3/4/2025 10:23:00 PM | Men's Basketball
Chippewas battle back from 21-point deficit; Jakobi Heady leads Central Michigan as he scores nine points in the final 2:32, finishes with 18 points; Anthony Pritchard adds 18 points; Chippewas’ postseason hopes remain alive.
MUNCIE, Ind.—Jakobi Heady scored nine points in the final 2:32 and Central Michigan came all the way back from a 21-point second half deficit to register a dramatic 69-67 men's basketball victory over Ball State Tuesday evening at Worthen Arena.
Heady finished off a 3-point play to tie the game at 63-63 with 2:06 to go. After Ball State's Jermahri Hill scored a layup, Heady answered again with a driving layup of his own to tie the game at 65-65. Ball State turned the ball over on the ensuing possession and Heady gave CMU its first lead of the game, 67-65, with 46 seconds to play. Ball State's Mickey Pearson tied the game at 67-67 with 34 seconds after he converted two free throws.
But Heady and the Chippewas would not be denied. Central Michigan set him up with the ball and he swished a jumper with eight seconds left for the game-winning basket. Ball State's final shot missed its mark and the Chippewas earned an impressive road victory after leading for a total of 45 seconds.
It was a tale of two halves for Central Michigan. After shooting just 31 percent in the first half and trailing by 17 points at halftime, the Chippewas shot 66.7 percent (18-27) from the floor in the second half and outscored Ball State 47-28. Central Michigan trailed by as many as 21 points (43-22) with 19:01 to play.
"I thought we fought and played hard in the first half; we just didn't make any shots," Central Michigan head coach Tony Barbee said. "The ball finally hit the bottom of the basket in the second half. I thought we defended fairly well, we kept them off the foul line, which we wanted to do between our man and zone. In the second half, we tightened up our defense even more and then we were able to take advantage on the offensive end."
Heady scored nine of his 18 points in the final minutes and converted 7-15 shots to go along with six rebounds. Pritchard also scored 18 points with a game-high six assists and seven rebounds, and center Ugnius Jarusevicius added 13 points on 4-10 shooting while battling foul trouble. He played the majority of the second half with four fouls. The Chippewas turned to Quentin Heady and DeCorion Temple, who came off the bench to score a career-high six points on two field goals and two free throws. Itt was Temple's contribution on the defensive end that made the difference.
"With all of our injuries to our front line, we are the walking wounded," Barbee said. "We plucked DeCorion from the football team. He was a fantastic basketball player in high school and I asked Coach Drinkall if we could borrow your starting tight end. Coach was on board and he came up big tonight. He's worked hard in practice and hasn't had much of an opportunity. It's hard when you're playing behind that all-league player in Ugnius, but tonight we needed him with the foul trouble."
"Not only him, Quentin Heady gave us some huge minutes and obviously what Jakobi did down the stretch, making bucket after bucket."
The win keeps Central Michigan's postseason hopes alive as it attempts to earn a berth into the 2025 MAC Tournament. With the victory, Central Michigan improves to 14-16 overall and 7-10 in the MAC, while Ball State drops to 14-16 overall and 7-10 in the MAC. The Chippewas are now tied with Ball State for ninth place in the standings with identical 7-10 records. Western Michigan and Bowling Green, two teams CMU holds head-to-head tiebreakers against, are both one game ahead in eighth place with 8-9 records.
One game remains on Friday as Central Michigan closes out its 2024-25 regular season as it hosts Northern Illinois for Senior Night at 7 p.m. at McGuirk Arena. Seniors Jakobi Heady and Anthony Pritchard will be honored in a pre-game ceremony.
Ball State was led by Hill's game-high 21 points, while Pearson finished with 11.
In establishing a 17-point halftime lead (39-22), Ball State converted 53.3 percent (16-30) of its first half shots. Central Michigan hit just 1-10 of its 3-point shots and finished with 32.1 percent (9-28) on field goals.
Ball State used a 13-0 run to take a commanding 24-7 first half lead. Pearson started the scoring with a turnaround jumper, Joey Hart followed with a 3-pointer, TJ Burch made a jumper, Hill hit a 3-pointer, and TJ Burch hit a 3-pointer for a 24-7 lead with 9:28 to play in the first half.
Ball State extended its lead to 15 points, 32-17, on a 3-point play by Jeremiah Hernandez at the 3:08 mark. The Cardinals closed out the half when Juanse Gorosito scored on a driving layup at the buzzer for the 17-point lead.
After Ball State pushed its lead to 21 points early in the second half, Central Michigan used a 9-0 run to cut the lead down. Cayden Vasko scored on a turnaround jumper, Jarusevicius hit a 3-pointer, Pritchard finished off a driving layup, and Jarusevicius scored on a hook shot and all of a sudden the Chippewas trimmed the lead down to 43-31 with 16:11 to play.
Another 9-0 run by Central Michigan fueled by two Jakobi Heady free throws, a Pritchard turnaround jumper and Vasko 3-pointer. Then Pritchard took it all the way to basket for a layup and Ball State led 55-52 with 6:54 to play.
A steal and layup by Quentin Heady cut the deficit down to one point, 55-54 at the 6:24 mark, but the Cardinals answered with a 6-0 run as Hill registered a 3-point play on a driving layup and Ethan Brittain-Watts hit a 3-pointer to push the lead back to 61-54 with 4:06 to play.
It marked Central Michigan's third straight victory over Ball State in Muncie and avenged an 82-80 home loss to the Cardinals on Jan. 21.
One home game remains for Central Michigan: Northern Illinois (Friday, March 7). Fans can order 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. For more information, click here.
Heady finished off a 3-point play to tie the game at 63-63 with 2:06 to go. After Ball State's Jermahri Hill scored a layup, Heady answered again with a driving layup of his own to tie the game at 65-65. Ball State turned the ball over on the ensuing possession and Heady gave CMU its first lead of the game, 67-65, with 46 seconds to play. Ball State's Mickey Pearson tied the game at 67-67 with 34 seconds after he converted two free throws.
But Heady and the Chippewas would not be denied. Central Michigan set him up with the ball and he swished a jumper with eight seconds left for the game-winning basket. Ball State's final shot missed its mark and the Chippewas earned an impressive road victory after leading for a total of 45 seconds.
It was a tale of two halves for Central Michigan. After shooting just 31 percent in the first half and trailing by 17 points at halftime, the Chippewas shot 66.7 percent (18-27) from the floor in the second half and outscored Ball State 47-28. Central Michigan trailed by as many as 21 points (43-22) with 19:01 to play.
"I thought we fought and played hard in the first half; we just didn't make any shots," Central Michigan head coach Tony Barbee said. "The ball finally hit the bottom of the basket in the second half. I thought we defended fairly well, we kept them off the foul line, which we wanted to do between our man and zone. In the second half, we tightened up our defense even more and then we were able to take advantage on the offensive end."
Heady scored nine of his 18 points in the final minutes and converted 7-15 shots to go along with six rebounds. Pritchard also scored 18 points with a game-high six assists and seven rebounds, and center Ugnius Jarusevicius added 13 points on 4-10 shooting while battling foul trouble. He played the majority of the second half with four fouls. The Chippewas turned to Quentin Heady and DeCorion Temple, who came off the bench to score a career-high six points on two field goals and two free throws. Itt was Temple's contribution on the defensive end that made the difference.
"With all of our injuries to our front line, we are the walking wounded," Barbee said. "We plucked DeCorion from the football team. He was a fantastic basketball player in high school and I asked Coach Drinkall if we could borrow your starting tight end. Coach was on board and he came up big tonight. He's worked hard in practice and hasn't had much of an opportunity. It's hard when you're playing behind that all-league player in Ugnius, but tonight we needed him with the foul trouble."
"Not only him, Quentin Heady gave us some huge minutes and obviously what Jakobi did down the stretch, making bucket after bucket."
The win keeps Central Michigan's postseason hopes alive as it attempts to earn a berth into the 2025 MAC Tournament. With the victory, Central Michigan improves to 14-16 overall and 7-10 in the MAC, while Ball State drops to 14-16 overall and 7-10 in the MAC. The Chippewas are now tied with Ball State for ninth place in the standings with identical 7-10 records. Western Michigan and Bowling Green, two teams CMU holds head-to-head tiebreakers against, are both one game ahead in eighth place with 8-9 records.
One game remains on Friday as Central Michigan closes out its 2024-25 regular season as it hosts Northern Illinois for Senior Night at 7 p.m. at McGuirk Arena. Seniors Jakobi Heady and Anthony Pritchard will be honored in a pre-game ceremony.
Ball State was led by Hill's game-high 21 points, while Pearson finished with 11.
In establishing a 17-point halftime lead (39-22), Ball State converted 53.3 percent (16-30) of its first half shots. Central Michigan hit just 1-10 of its 3-point shots and finished with 32.1 percent (9-28) on field goals.
Ball State used a 13-0 run to take a commanding 24-7 first half lead. Pearson started the scoring with a turnaround jumper, Joey Hart followed with a 3-pointer, TJ Burch made a jumper, Hill hit a 3-pointer, and TJ Burch hit a 3-pointer for a 24-7 lead with 9:28 to play in the first half.
Ball State extended its lead to 15 points, 32-17, on a 3-point play by Jeremiah Hernandez at the 3:08 mark. The Cardinals closed out the half when Juanse Gorosito scored on a driving layup at the buzzer for the 17-point lead.
After Ball State pushed its lead to 21 points early in the second half, Central Michigan used a 9-0 run to cut the lead down. Cayden Vasko scored on a turnaround jumper, Jarusevicius hit a 3-pointer, Pritchard finished off a driving layup, and Jarusevicius scored on a hook shot and all of a sudden the Chippewas trimmed the lead down to 43-31 with 16:11 to play.
Another 9-0 run by Central Michigan fueled by two Jakobi Heady free throws, a Pritchard turnaround jumper and Vasko 3-pointer. Then Pritchard took it all the way to basket for a layup and Ball State led 55-52 with 6:54 to play.
A steal and layup by Quentin Heady cut the deficit down to one point, 55-54 at the 6:24 mark, but the Cardinals answered with a 6-0 run as Hill registered a 3-point play on a driving layup and Ethan Brittain-Watts hit a 3-pointer to push the lead back to 61-54 with 4:06 to play.
It marked Central Michigan's third straight victory over Ball State in Muncie and avenged an 82-80 home loss to the Cardinals on Jan. 21.
One home game remains for Central Michigan: Northern Illinois (Friday, March 7). Fans can order 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. For more information, click here.
—CMU—
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