Men’s Hoops Falls to Indiana State in Overtime

Tuesday, November 15

Muncie, Ind.

7:00 PM ET

Ball State University

1-1

Indiana State

1-1

OT 1

Indiana State

Ball State

Photo by: Ball State University Creative Services

November 15, 2016 | Men's Basketball

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Persons scores 26 points, House adds 21 and 14 rebounds

MUNCIE, Ind. -- Tayler Persons and Franko House had big nights for the second game in a row, but Indiana State locked in on Ball State's other weapons well enough to emerge Tuesday night with an 80-74 victory in overtime.

Persons (26 points) and House (21) topped the 20-point mark for the second straight game. They combined to shoot 16 of 31 from the floor, but Indiana State (1-1) forced the rest of the Cardinals into a tough night. Ball State (1-1) finished the game shooting 38 percent as a team.

"I want to give Indiana State great credit," Ball State coach James Whitford said. "I thought they played a really good game and made some big plays down the stretch. I thought they did a terrific job on Sean (Sellers), Francis (Kiapway) and Ryan (Weber), and I thought that really hurt us."

Ball State got off to a slow start with 11 turnovers in the opening half as the Cardinals struggled to find some flow offensively. After recording 21 assists on 30 made baskets in the season-opening win at Saint Louis, BSU managed just 10 assists Tuesday.

"A lot of it is the way Indiana State plays," Whitford said. "They deny passes everywhere. What they force you to do is make plays. It wasn't going to be a game like the last one."

The Cardinals cut that turnover total down to four over the final 25 minutes and started to get better shots. They just weren't making them. Ball State shot 34 percent in the second half and made only 4 of 17 attempts from 3-point range for the night.

But the Cardinals managed to hang around, partly because of their work on the glass with 16 offensive rebounds. They trailed by as many as eight in the second half but came back to grab a 60-59 lead on a lay-in from House with 2:01 to play.

Brandon Murphy gave Indiana State a 64-62 lead with 15 seconds left in regulation, but Persons drew a foul on the other end and hit both free throws to force overtime.

But the Cardinals could not ride that momentum. Indiana State scored on all but one of its possessions in the extra period, going 4 for 4 from the floor and 7 for 8 from the foul line in the process.

The dagger was a 3-pointer from Matt Van Scyoc that bounced high off the rim and fell through to put the Sycamores up 74-68 with 1:32 to play. From there, Ball State couldn't cut the margin to any fewer than four points.

"I was disappointed in the way we played," Whitford said. "It's a long basketball season, and this is early. But I feel like, aside from Indiana State's good performance, we are better than what we showed tonight. And I think all of us in the locker room feel a little disappointed that we left something out there that we could have done better."

Brenton Scott led Indiana State with 25 points, while Van Scyoc added 14. Point guard Everett Clemons finished one assist shy of a triple-double with 11 points, 10 rebounds and nine assists. The Sycamores attempted 12 fewer shots than Ball State but made one more.

Trey Moses gave the Cardinals a third double-figure scorer with 10 points on 5-of-10 shooting. House led Ball State on the boards with a career-high 14 rebounds for his first double-double of the season.

The Cardinals will return to action Friday at Alabama as part of the MGM Grand Main Event. Tipoff is scheduled for 8 p.m. CT (9 ET) on the SEC Network.