The Ball State Cardinals were down by as much as 17 points in the first half on Wednesday against Northern Illinois in a quarterfinal match-up. Tomorrow morning, they’ll play for the Mid-American Conference’s automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament, thanks to a stunning 71-66 semifinal win over #1 seed Toledo Rockets on Friday morning in Cleveland, Ohio.
The Cardinals scored the first seven points of the game and held the lead for almost the entire game. The Rockets only held the lead once, for just 15 seconds, at 22-21 in the second quarter. Ball State would outscore the Rockets 18-3 the rest of the quarter to take a 39-25 lead into halftime.