Recap: SE Missouri St vs. Ball State

Cape Girardeau, MO (Sports Network) - Jauwan Scaife nailed a 3-pointer as time expired to lift the Ball State Cardinals to an 85-82 victory against the Southeast Missouri State Redhawks in a BracketBusters thriller at the Show Me Center.

Scaife had a team-high 18 points for Ball State (11-14) which has won three of its last four contests. Marcus Posley added 15 points and Matt Kamieniecki (12 points, 14 rebounds) and Chris Bond (11 points, 11 rebounds) each had double- doubles for the Cardinals.

Marland Smith had a game-high 21 points, Nino Johnson had a double-double of 16 points and 14 rebounds, Corey Wilford tallied 15 points, Nick Niemczyk chipped in 13 points and Tyler Stone had 12 points and eight rebounds for Southeast Missouri State (14-15) which has lost consecutive games.

At halftime SEMO led 39-34 by shooting 52 percent, including makes on 6-of-11 from beyond the arc. Ball State shot just 31.4 percent from the floor in the first 20 minutes.

In the second half the Cardinals improved to 51.6 percent from the floor and led by as many as 10 points. A 15-4 run by the Redhawks in the final minutes, capped by a 3-pointer from Smith, had the teams tied at 82-82 with just seven seconds remaining. However Scaife saved the Cardinals with his late-game heroics.

Ball State held a 23-11 edge in points from the free-throw line while SEMO was the better team from beyond the arc (39-24).