Ball State University Athletics
Men's Basketball Falls at Ohio Sunday
January 08, 2006 | Men's Basketball
Ball State pushed the pace to open the contest and built a pair of 10-point leads after shooting 62 percent in the first 20 minutes. BSU's defense limited the host Bobcats to just 38 percent in the opening half.
The Cardinals also debuted a new starting sqaud which included three true freshmen -- Maurice Acker, Jalon Perryman and Pat Nelson. The start was Nelson's first of his collegiate career, while Acker started the seventh game and Perryman the fourth game of their brief college careers.
At the half, BSU led 32-26 on the heels of 12 first-half points from Peyton and 10 from Mills. Peyton scored eight straight point in a four-minute stretch to give BSU its largest leads.
"We are continuing to learn and make progress," BSU head coach Tim Buckley says. "We fought the whole game. I am really proud of this team. We had 40 minutes of fight from everybody."
Mills came out firing in the second half, hitting back-to-back threes and scoring 11 points in the first five minutes to increase the Cardinals' lead to 38-28.
However, Ohio's Sonny Troutman sparked a Bobcat run with a lay-up in transition and a deep three from Jeff Halbert to pull the game to 38-33.
BSU then stalled in the second half, suffering a six-minute scoring drought. During the stretch, the Bobcats went on a 14-0 run taking their first lead at 52-49 with 9:20 left to play.
The Ohio run was led by Troutman and the interior scoring from Leon Williams. The Cardinals' shooting dropped to 37 percent in the second half , while Ohio improved to 54 percent.
In addition to Mills' 25 points and Peyton's 12, Acker added seven points, six assists and three steals in 32 minutes of action. Mills and Peyton led the Cardinals on the boards with six each.
Williams led the Bobcats with 13 points and Troutman added 11.
With the loss Ball State falls to 0-2 in the Mid-American Conference and 4-6 overall. Ohio improved to 2-0 in the league and 8-2 overall.
Ball State will return to action Wednesday with a 7 p.m. game at Kent State.
