The call came that Ball State …

The call came that Ball State University professor Nick Elam had been waiting for. His clockless basketball vision — born amid the ruckus of college buddies watching March Madness — was getting ready to play out on basketball’s biggest stage. On the other end of the line were a couple of executives from the NBA league office. Elam’s invention of an untimed game ending — coined the Elam Ending — would be used in this year’s NBA All-Star Game, they told him. Elam would later learn the NBA was using his invention to honor the late NBA legend Kobe Bryant.