Dragons Upend Ball State For Fourth-Straight Win, 56-51

Tuesday, December 20

Daskalakis Athletic Center

TBA

Drexel University

Ball State

Dragons Upend Ball State For Fourth-Straight Win, 56-51

12/20/2005 12:00:00 AM

Box Score

Philadelphia -Bashir Mason (Jersey City, N.J./St. Benedict's) had six points and a steal in the final 42 seconds and Drexel got key contributions from the bench and held on to defeat Ball State, 56-51. It was the fourth-straight win for the Dragons (7-5) as they remained unbeaten at the Daskalakis Athletic Center this season at 5-0.

The game was close the entire way. Drexel took the lead for good late in the first half, but couldn't put the Cardinals (4-3) away. Ball State stayed within seven points the entire second half and cut the lead to two on a dunk by Charles Bass at the 7:07 mark. That was as close as they got the rest of the way.

Ball State's Maurice Acker put back a missed free throw to cut the lead to 50-45 with three minutes to go. That was all the scoring until Mason made a pair of free throws to make it 52-45 with 42 ticks remaining on the clock. After BSU's Skip Mills nailed a three-pointer, each team committed a turnover. Mason got the ball back on a steal and went the length of the court for a breakaway to ice the game with 25 seconds remaining.

The Dragons trailed by as many as seven in the first half, but went on a 13-0 run to take a 25-19 lead. The Dragons' defense held Ball State scoreless for 6:18 before Jalon Perryman made a pair of free throws to cut the lead to four points. Drexel went into the break ahead, 31-27.

Randy Hampton (Washington, D.C./Dunbar) scored a career-high 10 points off the bench, all of them coming in the first half. He made a pair of three pointers and also came up with four rebounds. Chaz Crawford (Philadelphia, Pa./Hargrave Military) also came off the bench and had nine boards to go with his three blocked shots.

Dominick Mejia (Voorhees, N.J./Eastern) led a balanced scoring attack for Drexel with 14 points. He was 4-for-8 from behind the arc. Frank Elegar (Bronx, N.Y./St. Raymond's) had his fourth double-double of the year with 10 points and 11 rebounds. He also had a career-best four blocked shots. Mason finished with 13 points.

The Dragons are off for the holiday break and do not return to action until New Year's Eve, when they face Monmouth in West Long Branch, N.J. Game time is set for 4 p.m. It is the start of a three-game stretch away from home for the Dragons.