Ball State University
6-5
Manchester
7-5
Men's Basketball Tops Manchester For Third Straight Win
December 31, 2009 | Men's Basketball
MUNCIE, Ind. - The Ball State men's basketball team tallied its third straight victory with a 79-55 New Year's Eve win over Manchester College Thursday afternoon at Worthen Arena. The victory improves the Cardinals to 6-5 on the season and marks the first three-game winning streak for Ball State since the 2004-05 season (Jan. 29-Feb. 3).
"It was obviously not one of our best performances," head coach Billy Taylor said. "Give Manchester credit, they did not play intimidated and shot the ball well. Our effort was good at the beginning of the second half but we didn't get consistent effort throughout the game. It is nice to be in a position to nit-pick and dissect wins. We have won three in a row, but we still have not played our best basketball yet and have room to improve."
Sophomore forward Jarrod Jones (Michigan City, Ind./Michigan City) continued his strong play as he posted his third straight double-double and fourth of the season in the victory. Jones scored a season-high 20 points while grabbing a game-high 10 rebounds. He connected on eight-of-13 from the field and was four-of-five from the free throw line in just 27 minutes of action. Ball State controlled the interior as it out-scored Manchester 38-16 in the paint in the victory.
The Cardinals came out of the gate and opened to an early 7-2 lead just over three minutes into the game. Ball State continued its strong start and posted an 8-2 run to take a 20-12 lead. Sophomore forward Mo Hubbard (Chantilly, Va./Westfield) sparked the run with back-to-back baskets, while senior forward Terrence Watson (Detroit, Mich./Univ. of Mississippi) capped the spurt with an alley-oop dunk against the Manchester zone.
The Spartans responded with eight straight points to tie the game at 20-20 as they hit back-to-back three-pointers. The Cardinals answered right back with an 11-2 run and closed the half on a 22-9 stretch to take a 42-29 lead into the locker room. Jones took control as he scored six straight points to ignite the run, while senior guard Brawley Chisholm (Bronx, N.Y./Western Texas College) nailed a three-pointer to force a Manchester timeout.
The Cardinals were strong offensively in the first half as they connected on 69.2 percent (18-of-26) from the field, including a pair of three-pointers. The 69.2 percent shooting is the highest total this season for the Cardinals in any half. Jones led all scorers as he scored 13 points on six-of-eight shooting from the field, while Hubbard and Chisholm each added six points. Ball State dominated play in the post in the first half as it out-scored the Spartans 22-4 in the paint.
Manchester (7-5) was held to 37.0 percent (10-of-27) shooting from the field in the opening frame, but connected on 42.9 percent (six-of-14) from three-point land. The Spartans battled on the glass as they only trailed 14-13 in the rebounding margin. Tyler Delauder and J.T. Hooks led Manchester in the first half with six points apiece off of the bench.
Ball State came out of the halftime break and posted an 11-2 run to take a 53-31 lead just over four minutes into the second half. Sophomore guard Pierre Sneed (Chicago, Ill./Simeon) scored four points in the run while Jones converted an old-fashioned three-point play to give the Cardinals their largest lead of the game.
Manchester did not back down as the Spartans responded with 12 straight points to narrow the gap to 53-43 and force a BSU timeout. The Cardinals slowed the Spartans' attacked as freshman Jauwan Scaife (Muncie, Ind./Central) scored on the interior. Ball State posted a 7-0 run to extend the lead back to 16 points at 64-48 as Jones scored four points and junior forward Malik Perry (Philadelphia, Pa./Philadelphia Lutheran) added an old-fashioned three-point play.
Manchester kept shooting and nailed its 10th three-pointer of the afternoon but the Cardinals sealed the victory as freshman Myron Green Jr. (Long Beach, Calif./Dominguez) nailed two free throws and sophomore Randy Davis (Plymouth, Ind./Plymouth) hit a three-pointer to end any threat.
The Cardinals finished the game shooting 52.8 percent (28-of-53) from the field in the victory and 30 percent (three-of-10) from three-point land. The Cardinals also went to the free throw line 17 times in the victory, marking the 10th time in 11 games this season that BSU has been to the charity stripe more times than its opponent. Ball State also controlled the glass for eighth time this season as it owned a 36-26 advantage on the boards.
Perry finished the night with 11 points as he was four-of-six from the field and three-of-five from the free throw line. Scaife chipped in eight points and dished out a game-high five assists for the Cardinals while Sneed finished with seven points and seven rebounds. The Cardinals had three players score six points in Chisholm, Hubbard and Green Jr.
Manchester finished the game shooting 40.4 percent (21-of-52) from the field and 41.7 percent (10-of-24) from three-point land. The Spartans were led by Delauder's 14 points as he was four-of-six from the field. Mitch Schaefer finished with 10 points in the loss while Nathan Ferch added nine points.
Thursday's game marked the 73rd meeting all-time between Ball State and Manchester. The Cardinals are now 42-31 all-time against the Spartans and today's game marked the first meeting between the two in-state schools since the 1993-94 season.
The Cardinals return to action Tuesday, January 5 when they travel to Atlantic 10 power Dayton for an 8 p.m. tip-off.
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