Both CMU and Ball State are 11-8, 4-2 West. The Cardinals . . .
How It Happened
CMU was up 56-46 with more than eight minutes remaining when Ball State went on an 11-3 run to cut the Chippewa lead to 59-57 with four minutes remaining.
The Chippewas answered with a 9-1 run, triggered by a Rob Montgomery jumper at the 3:43 mark. The spurt ended with a Dallas Morgan jumper with 1:22 remaining, putting the Chippewas up, 68-58. Morgan scored seven points during the game-breaking surge.
Leaders
Morgan hit nine of his 14 field goal attempts including a 3-for-5 effort from 3-point range to lead the Chippewas with 21 points. It marked the sixth time this season that Morgan has scored 20 or more points in a game.
DiLeo added 14 points, Kevin McKay had 13, Montgomery finished with 11, and Devontae Lane had 10.
McKay, who returned to the lineup after missing three games with an injury, led the Chippewas with nine rebounds.
Bounceback
The win improved CMU's home record to 10-1 and it came one week after the Chippewas lost for the first time at home this season when they fell to Buffalo, 86-67.
"After that Buffalo (loss) we really focused on execution, not just on offense, but on defense," CMU senior David DiLeo said. "It was good to see us get out there and execute. We started sloppy, had a couple of turnovers early. But, we kind of calmed down and executed for the most part."
"I think our chance to be able to win this year is our depth," CMU coach Keno Davis said. "(It's also) the opportunity to win in different ways. We can win on our pressure defense, in our half-court defense. We can win offensively by driving to the basket or knocking down threes."
Key Stat
The Chippewas forced a season-high 28 turnovers with 18 of those turnovers coming off steals, which ties their season high. Travon Broadway Jr. and Montgomery had four steals each.
"We were able to get in our press a little bit," DiLeo said. "Our coaches did a great job of putting in a great scouting report and we did a great job executing the game plan. We took them out of their stuff, made them a little uncomfortable."
Gritty Play
The Chippewas did not have a mid-week game and they used the time to recuperate and regain some energy, which was critical coming off the loss to Buffalo.
"We just looked tired and warn out (against Buffalo)," Davis said. "It was nice for us to take a couple of days off from practice and try to re-energize ourselves. We had a great week of practice after we took the first couple of days off. I felt good coming into the game, and I feel good going into the rest of the season."
"Each loss, we always learn something and improve on it," Morgan said. "We just knew that we had to play on both ends of the floor and make sure we got stops on defense. We knew the offense would come."
(Courtesy of CMU Athletics)