DePaul comes up just short in OT

When DePaul's defense had the chance to play in full-court mode, the Blue Demons' swarm overwhelmed Ball State.

DePaul forced 19 turnovers Saturday night and made the Cardinals burn four timeouts when they couldn't cross the half-court line.

But with the game on the line and DePaul stuck in basic half-court man-to-man, Ball State got the better of the Demons individually.

Freshman point guard Tyrae Robinson drove past freshman Brandon Young and rolled in a layup with 2.7 seconds left in overtime to give Ball State a 79-77 victory before 3,454 at McGrath Arena.

When Young's rushed, off-balance 3-pointer came up short at the horn, fourth-year head coach Billy Taylor (a West Aurora graduate) and Ball State had its first win over a BCS conference school since Nov. 2002.

“It's a big step for our program,” Taylor said.

Robinson offered a huge smile when asked whether he knew he could take Young.

“Yes,” he said. “Yes.”

DePaul head coach Oliver Purnell knew the answer just as readily as Robinson. By no means was Young the only Blue Demon to allow Ball State's guards to attack the middle of the lane.

“At some point, guys have got to dig in,” Purnell said. “And say, ‘I'm a basketball player. He's a basketball player.' It's 1-on-1. You've just got to stop him.

“That's got to be a priority, something we've got to work more at. But it's a defensive player and an offensive player at that point.”

Young did plenty of work on offense for DePaul (3-6).

He poured in a game-high 23 points and handed out 5 assists including several key plays as the Blue Demons rallied from a 10-point second-half deficit.

Freshman Cleveland Melvin added 19 points and 7 rebounds off the bench and junior center Krys Faber (10 points, 9 rebounds) approached his first double-double.

Faber hit a pair of free throws near the end of regulation and overtime to make things tougher on Ball State.

But the Cardinals forced overtime after getting FOUR offensive rebounds on their last possession and finished with a 41-30 advantage on the boards.

“The rebounds that cost us the game in regulation, they're what you call ‘gang rebounds,'” Purnell said. “It's not the first guy that gets it, it's not the second guy that gets it. It's the third or fourth guy.

“That's why you've got to have five guys in there with position to get that ball and we didn't have that.”