Jeremiah Hernandez hit three free throws in the closing seconds to propel the Ball State men’s basketball team to an 82-80 win over Central Michigan on Tuesday night at McGuirk Arena.
The Cardinals (9-9, 3-3 Mid-American Conference) trailed 50-37 to the Chippewas (8-10, 2-4 MAC) early in the second half before scoring 31 of the next 40 points to take a 68-59 advantage at the 5:38 mark following two free throws by Juanse Gorosito. Central Michigan’s Jakobi Heady tied the score at 79-79 on a layup with 19 seconds to play before Hernandez was fouled on a 3-point attempt from the left wing with 4.2 seconds on the clock and drained all three free throws.
Hernandez tallied 15 points and two rebounds for the game, while Mickey Pearson Jr. scored a team-high 16 and added five rebounds, three assists, two steals and two blocks.
Ball State trailed 41-33 at halftime but shot 66.7 percent (14-21) from the field, 60 percent on 3-pointers (6-10) and 83.3 percent on free throws (15-18) in the second half to take down the host Chippewas, who entered Tuesday’s matchup winners in their last two games.
Payton Sparks (14 points, eight rebounds, four assists, three blocks) and Pearson also made a pair of free throws each in the final 80 seconds to help the Cardinals pull out the road win. Jermahri Hill (14 points, five assists), Ethan Brittain-Watts (13 points, five rebounds) and Gorosito (10 points, three rebounds, two assists) also scored in double figures for the visitors.
Central’s Quentin Heady scored a game-high 17 points, but the hosts made just 4 of 17 field goal attempts and committed five turnovers in the more than 10-minute Ball State stretch that turned the game across the middle portion of the second period.
For the game, the Cardinals shot 54 percent (27-50) from the field including 45 percent (9-20) on triple and made 76 percent (19-25) of its free throw attempts. Ball State made 11 straight free throw attempts to end the game. The Chippewas finished with a 46.4 percent (32-69) mark on field goals, 36.8 percent (7-19) from distance and 69.2 percent (9-13) at the foul line.
Central Michigan had one more rebound (33-32), but Ball State won the battle of the boards 15-12 in the second half to lead the Cardinals to their second road MAC win of the season in three tries.
Ball State stays on the road with a 4:30 p.m. ET (3:30 CT) game at Northern Illinois on Saturday.
