A chance for a MAC West Division championship. An opportunity to punch a ticket . . .
And a resounding win it was. On the strength of one of its more efficient shooting performances and a stifling defensive effort, Ball State blew it open in the second half for a 75-54 victory at the NIU Convocation Center.
The Cardinals (18-13, 11-7 MAC) matched the Huskies (18-13, 11-7 MAC) atop the West standings, earning a division title for the third time in five years. By virtue of sweeping the season series, BSU jumped over NIU for the No. 3 seed in next week's conference tournament. The Huskies will be at No. 4.
"We had a lot on the line, backs to the wall, and we came out and played one of our best games of the year when it matter most," Ball State head coach James Whitford said.
Tahjai Teague led the way with 18 points and 11 rebounds for his 11th double-double of the season, but this was a highly balanced team. Miryne Thomas scored a BSU career-high 14 points off the bench, while Kyle Mallers and Ishmael El-Amin added 12 each.
El-Amin, Mallers and Teague all had sequences during the game in which they hit back-to-back 3's. Teague's pair helped put the game out of reach in the second half.
The gutsiest performance came from redshirt freshman Kani Acree, who left in the first half with what looked like a serious knee injury -- only to return in the second half and score eight points. He also finished with five rebounds.
"Kani really showed a lot of toughness, and our bench is really playing well," Whitford said. "I thought he was great, I thought Josh was great, I thought Miryne was great. Our bench really gave us a huge spark in this game."
The Cardinals were in control throughout the first half but saw Northern Illinois trim their 18-point lead to four early in the second half. Then Mallers converted an old-fashioned 3-point play and followed it with a three from the left wing.
Acree scored the next eight BSU points, including a pair of his own 3-point plays, and the lead was back to 14. Teague followed shortly with his back-to-back 3-pointers to push the lead to 20, and Ball State rolled from there.
The Cardinals finished the night shooting 51 percent, while Northern Illinois connected on only 28 percent. Eugene German, the MAC's top scorer, led the Huskies with 17 points but made only 5-of-21 from the floor.
"He's a great player, so he's not easy to stop," Whitford said. "He didn't have a great shooting night, but we had a lot to do with that."
Ball State won four of its final five regular season games to finish in a three-way tie with NIU and Buffalo for the No. 3 spot in the overall league standings. Based on tiebreakers, the Cardinals (3-1 in games among those tied teams) grabbed the No. 3 seed, while the No. 4 went to NIU and the No. 5 to Buffalo.
Ball State is slated for the MAC Tournament's last quarterfinal game Thursday, March 12 at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse (formerly Quicken Loans Arena) in Cleveland. The Cardinals tip off at approximately 9 p.m. against the winner of Monday's first-round game between No. 6 seed Kent State and No. 11 seed Eastern Michigan.
(Courtesy of BSU Athletics)