LAHAINA, Hawaii -- Ball State coach Ray Buckley had a dream a few nights ago that turned into reality Monday afternoon. The second-year coach imagined a scenario in which his Cardinals (1-0) pulled out a close contest against No. 4 Kansas (0-1) in the first round of the Maui Invitational.
"Rob Owens came in and did a tremendous job and provided great energy and [guards Patrick Jackson and Chris Williams] really had a calming influence," Buckley said. "Our players look to those guys, and they see how they react to those situations."
Leading scorer Theron Smith fouled out with only 4:29 remaining, but Ball State, on the backs of Jackson and Williams, defeated the Jayhawks 93-91 in the second game of the Maui Invitational. Williams scored 24 points in the game, including 21 in the first half on 4-of-5 shooting from three-point range.
After struggling with his shot in most of the second period, the transfer from Loyola-Chicago hit a clutch three-pointer with 0:46 remaining to tie the game.
With the score tied at 91, Kansas was unable to match Williams' magic. Jackson took the ball down the floor, made a cross-over dribble at the top of the key that forced Kansas guard Aaron Miles to fall to the ground and penetrated the lane. With little resistance from the Jayhawk post players, Jackson threw up the game-winning layup with one second left.
A final attempt for a Kansas victory was thwarted with 0.8 seconds left, as the Jayhawks' inbounds pass was stolen by the Cardinals. Kansas coach Roy Williams said the main factor in his team's loss was its inability to match the big play tenacity of the Cardinals.
"They made some plays down the stretch, and we didn't make them," the coach said. "They made a couple of big shots.... We were sort of trying to be like the Olittle engine that could' trying to get up the hill. And when we finally got up to the top, we didn't have enough left."
Roy Williams' displeasure was evident especially in the first half, when the Cardinals rallied for 10 points in the final two minutes to take a sizeable advantage. The end of the first stanza provided especially dramatic action, as Chris Williams capped off his explosive first 20 minutes with a trey with six seconds remaining. Kansas' Aaron Miles, however, responded with a trifecta of his own at the buzzer to close the Jayhawks to within 55-48.
Despite these heroics, the Cardinals held on for one the biggest victories in the history of their program. But Buckley cautions his team still has a long way to go to be considered among basketball's elite.
"One game doesn't make a program, one game doesn't make a season, but what it does is it gives you an opportunity to build on it," Buckley said. "I wouldn't go running around and saying we're going to win the national championship, but we feel like we can compete and that's exactly what we did today. The nice thing about this tournament is that you have to lace them up and go play again tomorrow."
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