Ball State University
Dayton
Men's Basketball Drops Hard Fought Contest At Dayton
January 06, 2010 | Men's Basketball
DAYTON, Ohio - The Ball State men's basketball team saw its three-game winning streak snapped Tuesday night as the Cardinals dropped a hard fought 59-35 contest to Atlantic 10 power Dayton at UD Arena. The loss dropped the Cardinals to 6-6 overall on the season while the Flyers improved to 11-3 on the year and have won 28 straight at UD Arena.
"We battled hard and competed against a very good Dayton team tonight," head coach Billy Taylor said. "The final score isn't indicative of how well we competed and fought tonight. Playing in hostile environments and against quality non-conference opponents has prepared us as we begin Mid-American Conference play Saturday."
Senior forward Terrence Watson (Detroit, Mich./Univ. of Mississippi) turned in a solid effort as he scored a team-high eight points, grabbed five rebounds and tallied a game-high four blocked shots. Classmate Brawley Chisholm (Bronx, N.Y./Western Texas College) added seven points off of the bench as the Cardinals tallied 25 bench points.
Dayton, which is receiving votes in the national polls, opened the scoring quickly as it tallied the first four points of the game to force an early BSU timeout. The Cardinals regrouped and scored the next five points to take a 5-4 lead as sophomore forward Mo Hubbard (Chantilly, Va./Westfield) and Chisholm nailed back-to-back jumpers.
The Flyers responded with nine straight points to take a 13-5 lead and force the Cardinals into their second timeout of the half. Both teams buckled down on the defensive end as the neither team scored for four minutes. The Cardinals broke the scoreless streak as they ran off a 6-2 run to pull within four at 15-11. Junior forward Malik Perry (Philadelphia, Pa./Philadelphia Lutheran) ignited the spurt as he scored on back-to-back possessions.
Dayton was able to score the final seven points of the half to take a 30-17 lead into the locker room as UD leading scorer Chris Wright scored 10 points in the final five minutes of the half. Ball State connected on 25.9 percent (seven-of-27) from the field in the opening half while the Flyers connected on 52.2 percent (12-of-23). Seven different Cardinals scored in the opening frame, with Perry and Watson paced BSU with four points each.
The two teams battled back-and-forth during the early part of the second half as the Cardinals narrowed the gap to 35-24 almost eight minutes into the second frame. The two defenses continued its strong play as BSU out-scored Dayton 7-5 over the eight minute stretch of the second half.
Dayton was able to pull away down the stretch as the Flyers closed the game on a 16-6 run to take home the 24-point victory. The Cardinals finished the night shooting 27.9 percent (12-of-43) from the field and 10 percent (one-of-10) from three-point land. Ball State was out-rebounded for just the fourth time this season as Dayton held a 38-27 advantage on the glass.
Dayton finished the game shooting 45.1 percent (23-of-51) from the field and 50 percent (five-of-10) from three-point land. The Flyers were led by Wright's 10 points, while Paul Williams added eight points and Devin Searcy chipped in seven points.
The Cardinals open Mid-American Conference play Saturday afternoon as they host MAC West Division foe Northern Illinois. Game time is set for 2 p.m. at Worthen Arena and the game will be broadcast by the Ball State Sports Network.
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