Western Michigan forward Derek Drews

(On the game) "Looking down at these totals ... 14-for-51 is not acceptable. After the great shooting game we had the other night they were getting out and playing us. They had double-teamed the post all year and they didn't double team our posts and we just didn't finish. I got to lead by example. I missed a lot of bunnies in there and I can't count on Flen and LaMarcus to keep finishing if I'm not leading by example. We had no post play tonight."

(On the MAC) "In the MAC, you can't look at the schedule and mark downs Ws and losses. Everybody plays hard and a lot of games are determined by four, five, six points. It's the team that does the little things that are going to win."

(On playing in Muncie, where he grew up and his dad coached) "I never really get too excited ... but it's the last time here. It means more now that it's my senior season. I like coming back to Ball State and playing. Growing up here and coming in and watching the games. My dad coaching Bonzi (Wells) and watching Bonzi develop here. It's special to play on the court where I watched all that happen."

(On Ball State's 9-0 run from end of first half to start of second) "It's something we have to get better at. We've come out flat at the start of every second half this year and it's lack of focus, lack of details."

Western Michigan guard Shawntes Gary

(On his struggles offensively of late) "The last couple of games I've been fighting foul trouble, so it's hard to get into a rhythm offensively when you are in and out of the game like that. I don't think it's a problem because up until today our team had been playing great offensively and other guys have been stepping up. I just need to do the little things, playing defense, rebounding. Confidence-wise, I'm fine. I just need to come in and make some better decisions. It'd be nice if early I could knock a few down. I'm fine."

(On Ball State and can they stay in the race) "In the MAC, you can never tell. One team can get hot, while a good team can get cold and lose some games. In the MAC in depends on who is playing well and they play hard so they have as good of chance as anybody to be successful."

Western Michigan head coach Steve Hawkins

(On the game) "Well, you have to give Ball State a lot of credit. That wasn't the prettiest game in the world with both teams shooting poorly. They proved to make the plays with Lampley in particular made some big plays down the stretch. When you shoot the ball as poorly as we shot the ball today you almost have to play a flawless game defensively, which we did a good job of, but we did make some mistakes and in a game that you needed to play perfect defensively, we did not play the perfect game defensively. We missed a lot of shots and that really ended up being it.

"We started driving the ball and we still didn't shoot a free throw in the first half. So we couldn't get to the free throw line and we weren't hitting threes, so you end up with a 20-19 score at halftime. That makes it difficult when you're not hitting from three and you're driving the ball and can't get the ball to drop and not getting free throws."

(On 9-0 run by Ball State) "We came back and we took a lead again in the second half. It wasn't the factor. It's very difficult to go on the road and think the opponent isn't going to make a run. It's just not a reasonable expectation and how you respond to the runs is what becomes important. We missed a lot of shots. We went 14-of-28 the other night from three and we had similar looks tonight and didn't knock them down. We have not had a good first three or four minutes of the second half it seems for a long time and the first two possessions they went right at Flen. We just lost concentration."

(On the loss and what it means) "You had a chance to take a two-game lead and stay as the only undefeated team in the MAC. Ball State has beaten us, but they beat us here. At the same time we won at Central, they lost at Central so it's kind of like we pick up a game there. It just tightens things up and makes it a typical Mid-American Conference year. Everybody has a loss and here we go again. It's going to be a slugfest. The team that ends up with the number one seed, God knows how many losses they're going to end up with. I can't see someone going through this conference 13-3, I could be wrong, but I just can't see it."

(On Shawntes Gary) "He took a vicious elbow to the nose on the non-call. I should've kept him out. I think that was a mistake on my part. I think that had more to do with it tonight."

(On seeing the youth inside) "I thought's Ball State's big, round bodies were more physical and proved to be a big difference with the contact inside than our thinner bodies. We weren't able to finish inside. They were able to get some finishes inside. We knew they weren't a great shooting team from the perimeter, but the thing that disappoints me from our own effort ... we've been playing better offensively. Fine, you're going to have games where you don't shoot the ball well. We've played four very stout games defensively. But if you're shooting 27 percent and can only pull down seven offensive rebounds it makes no sense whatsoever. It's effort. We need to do a better job."