CMU drops exciting overtime game to Ball State 109-100

MOUNT PLEASANT, MI - The Central Michigan University Chippewas dropped an exciting overtime game to the Ball State Cardinals 109-100 on Saturday.   Marcus Keene the nations leading scorer in NCAA Division I men's basketball didn't disappoint by dropping 40 points.   His back court mate Braylon Rayson would add 34 points in the tough loss to the Cardinals.   Rayson would hit a long 3 point bomb just as regulation time was coming to an end.  The Chippewas made one last defensive stand to send the game into overtime. 

However the Chips would go ice cold in the overtime frame and be out scored 19-10 and the high scoring tandem would be shut down.  The Ball State Cardinals had a very balanced scoring attack with 6 players scoring in double figures with sophomore guard Tayler Persons scoring 30 points.  With the win the Cardinals remain in first place in the Western Division of the MAC.   The Chippewas now drop to 6-8 in conference play and 16-11 overall.   The main focus for the Chippewas now will be the Mid-American Conference Tournament in Cleveland beginning on March 6th.   The winner of the tournament receives an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.  If they don't win the tourney the NIT Tournament would love to have the nations leading scorer play in their Tournament. 

The Chippewas would start strong against Ball State getting to an early 10 point lead only to see Ball State fight back.   Midway through the second half of play Ball State would have a 10 point lead against the Chippewas.    It was a fun day at McGuirk Arena with former CMU football star Antonio Brown in attendance.   The saga of CMU basketball continued with them going through streaks the entire season with 3 or 4 wins then followed by 2 or 3 losses.    With 4 conference games remaining they need to finish strong and get to the 20 win mark to have a strong hope of playing into the post season.