MUNCIE, Ind. ? The Ball State men's basketball team used a 10-1 run in the second half to lead the Cardinals to a 51-44 victory over Mid-American Conference foe Ohio Saturday afternoon at Worthen Arena. The victory moves the Cardinals into sole possession of first place in the MAC West Division with a 5-2 record and improves them to 10-9 overall on the season.
“Today was another strong effort against a very good Ohio program,” head coach Billy Taylor said. “Ohio has a strong inside game and has great outside shooters. Our team did a great job defensively and contested every shot Ohio took. We crashed the glass and made every possession count on both ends of the floor.”
Ball State continued its strong play on the defensive end as it held the Bobcats to a season-low 44 points in the victory. The 44 points allowed are the second lowest this season by the Cardinals and marks the third time this season that Ball State has held a MAC opponent under 50 points. The 44 points scored by Ohio is the lowest total for the Bobcats since the 1990-91 season when Ohio scored just 42 points at Central Michigan (1/5/91).
The Cardinals' defense held Ohio to just 33.3 percent (18-of-54) shooting from the field in the victory and limited the Bobcats to just 5.3 percent (one-of-19) shooting from long range. Ohio entered the game first in the MAC in three-point shooting at 38.7 percent on the year.
Freshman forward Jarrod Jones (Michigan City, Ind./Michigan City) paced the offensive attack as he was one of three Cardinals in double figures. Jones scored a team-high 13 points as he was six-of-nine from the field in 29 minutes of action. He fell just short of a double-double with eight rebounds, while also adding a career-high four blocks.
Ohio (10-10, 3-4 MAC) came out and opened to a 14-9 lead nine minutes into the game. Ball State responded to the early pressure as Jones scored on a lay up and senior guard Brandon Lampley (Hamilton, Ohio/Hamilton) nailed a three-pointer from the wing to tie the game at 14-14.
The two teams battled back-and-forth with Ohio taking an 18-16 lead with 8:27 left in the first half. Ball State clamped down on the defensive end as it held the Bobcats without a field goal the rest of the half as Ohio missed its final 10 shots of the first half. The Cardinals turned the defense into offense as they closed the half on an 11-2 run to take a 27-20 lead into the locker room.
Ball State used the three-point shot with great effectiveness during the run as it nailed three long range shots during the spurt. Freshman guard Pierre Sneed (Chicago, Ill./Simeon) nailed his first career three-pointer as the shot clock expired to give the Cardinals the lead. Lampley and senior guard Laron Frazier (Waukegan, Ill./Highland CC) capped the run with back-to-back three-pointers on assists from each other.
The Cardinals finished the first half shooting 39.1 percent (nine-of-23) from the field and 30.8 percent (four-of-13) from three-point land. Lampley led the attack in the first half with eight points while Frazier added seven first half points. Ohio finished the half shooting 32.0 percent (eight-of-25) from the field but missed all nine three-point attempts in the opening frame.
Ohio came out of the halftime break and posted an 8-2 run to pull within one at 29-28 as Justin Orr scored four quick points. The Cardinals answered with an old-fashioned three-point play by Jones and a three-pointer from senior guard Rob Giles (Detroit, Mich./Mott CC) that gave BSU some breathing room.
The Bobcats didn't back down though as the scored six straight points to tie the game at 38-38 with 6:42 left in the game. Ball State responded to the pressure and rolled off a 10-1 run over the next four minutes to take a 48-39 lead. Frazier started the run with a lay up as junior forward Eric Wormely (Joliet, Ill./Kishwaukee CC) found him open underneath against the Ohio zone.
After an Ohio free throw, Jones came through with a strong move in the post to put BSU ahead by three. The Cardinals were strong down the stretch from the free throw line as they took advantage of being in the double bonus and scored six of the 10 points in the run from the charity stripe to seal the victory.
Ball State finished the game shooting 37.5 percent (15-of-40) from the field and 27.8 percent (five-of-18) from three-point land. The Cardinals shot 64 percent (16-of-25) from the free throw line in the game, including 68.8 percent (11-of-16) in the second half. BSU also dished out 13 assists on its 15 field goals in the victory.
Frazier finished the game with 11 points as he was a perfect four-of-four from the free throw line while also dishing out three assists. Lampley turned in another strong all-around game as he scored 10 points, grabbed six rebounds, dished out three assists and notched two steals in a team-high 34 minutes played. Sophomore forward Malik Perry (Philadelphia, Pa./Philadelphia Lutheran) paced the Cardinals on the glass with a game-high 10 rebounds.
Ohio was paced by Orr's team-high 14 points and seven rebounds as he was six-of-10 from the field. Devaughn Washington added 10 points and six rebounds while Jerome Tillman was held to just 10 points on three-of-16 shooting from the field.
The victory gives the Cardinals 10 wins on the season marking their first double figure win season since the 2005-06 season. Ball State's five MAC victories in the first seven games matches last season's conference win total (5-11).
The Cardinals return to action Wednesday night as they travel to Oxford, Ohio to take on rival Miami at 7 p.m. at Millett Hall. The game will be broadcast by the Ball State Sports Network and will be part of the ESPN Full Court package.
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