Tuesday’s showdown between the best of the Mid-American Conference’s West and East divisions at Rhodes Arena came down to whether a sub-58 percent free-throw shooter could sink two with his team behind by a point and 2.3 seconds to go — or so it seemed.
Ball State led the University of Akron and Zips center Isaiah Johnson was at the free-throw line.
His first shot rolled off the rim. The second swished through to tie the score but the drama was just getting started.
Cardinals’ forward Ryan Weber fired a length-of-the-court pass that would have impressed the Cavs’ Kevin Love. But there was no LeBron James on the other end. In fact, no one was there and the Zips got the ball back with those precious ticks on the clock left.
After a UA timeout, Zips point guard Noah Robotham inbounded the ball to Johnson. And the player the Zips call “Big Dog” didn’t need two tries. His jumper hit all net and the resulting 65-63 Mid-American Conference victory extended the Zips’ home winning streak to 29 games. The streak is the second longest in the nation behind Oregon’s and the Zips (20-4, 10-1 MAC) bounced back from their lone conference loss.
UA coach Keith Dambrot said he originally planned to just throw the ball into Johnson and wait for the foul. Instead, he ended up with the uncontested basket.
“Next time I’ll throw the thing into him and see what happens,” he said laughing.
It proved to be a big time shot for Johnson who said it was a case of just not thinking about the shot, but concentrating on it. Why the easy jump shot instead of a made free throw?
“I just get up there and my mind starts racing the previous miss or whatever. I’m not focusing on the shot,” Johnson said. “So it’s hard to make something when you’re not focused on it.”
Cardinals coach James Whitford said the referees’ decision to begin play on the full-court pass contributed to its failure.
“The whole thing happened earlier than we wanted it to,” he said.
Johnson led the Zips with 20 points and grabbed nine rebounds. Jimond Ivey was the only other UA player to hit double figures with 10 points. He added four rebounds and two assists.
Franko House led the Cardinals (15-9, 6-5) with 18 points and seven rebounds.
After taking a 30-28 halftime lead, a combination of defense and offense gave the Zips opportunity to take control of the game in the opening minutes of the second half. The Zips fell behind 36-32 before going on a 15-2 run over a span of 4:46 to grab a 47-38 lead with 12 minutes left in the game.
But the Zips couldn’t maintain the momentum and the Cardinals clawed their way back, outscoring the Zips 24-14 to take their 62-61 lead and setting up the dramatic finish.
The Cardinals got some help from the Zips, who couldn’t hit a hoop down the stretch to put the Cardinals away.
“The last six minutes, we had trouble finding them at the 3-line,” Dambrot said.
The Cardinals, who made 9-of-25 from behind the 3-point arc, are now just one of three teams to outshoot the Zips, who made just 5-of-23 in the game, on 3-pointers.
“I still feel like we got some pretty good 3s that we didn’t make,” Dambrot said.
He knows the Zips will need them to continue their dominance in the MAC.
“That’s going to be the key for us,” he said.
George M. Thomas can be reached at gmthomas@thebeaconjournal.com. Read the Zips blog at www.ohio.com/zips. Follow him on Twitter at www.twitter.com/GeorgeThomasABJ.