Ball State University
Northern Illinois
Men's Basketball Drops MAC Opener To Northern Illinois
January 09, 2010 | Men's Basketball
MUNCIE, Ind. - The Ball State men's basketball team opened the 2010 Mid-American Conference season Saturday afternoon with a 62-48 loss to Northern Illinois at Worthen Arena. The loss drops the Cardinals to 6-7 on the season and 0-1 in the MAC while the Huskies improve to 5-8 overall and 1-0 in league play.
"Very disappointing effort for us this afternoon," head coach Billy Taylor said. "Our first MAC game of the year I thought we would come out with tremendous energy and effort but we did not have that. We played okay in the first half, but we did not have the consistency in our effort necessary to be successful here in MAC play."
Junior forward Malik Perry (Philadelphia, Pa./Philadelphia Lutheran) continued his strong season as he was the only Cardinal in double figures scoring. Perry scored a team-high 14 points off of the bench, while adding seven rebounds and two steals. He connected on 4-of-12 from the field, but was 6-of-8 from the free throw line in the loss.
The Cardinals opened the scoring quickly as senior forward Terrence Watson (Detroit, Mich./Univ. of Mississippi) scored off of the tip on a fast break dunk three seconds into the game. Ball State kept the early pressure on as sophomore forward Jarrod Jones (Michigan City, Ind./Michigan City) converted an old-fashioned three-point play to give the Cardinals an early 5-2 lead.
The two teams battled back and forth for most of the first half until Northern Illinois turned in an 8-2 run to take a 22-18 lead and force a Ball State timeout with just over two minutes left in the half. The Cardinals responded as they closed the half on an 8-2 run of their own to take a 26-24 lead into the locker room. Senior guard Brawley Chisholm (Bronx, N.Y./Western Texas College) ignited the run as he scored six straight points as he nailed a three-pointer and hit three straight free throws to end the half.
The Cardinals finished the first half shooting 35.7 percent (10-of-28) from the field and were 5-of-6 (83.3%) from the free throw line in the opening frame. Jones paced the Cardinals in the first half as he scored seven points, despite only playing 12 minutes because of foul trouble. Northern Illinois connected on 36 percent (9-of-25) from the field and 40 percent (4-of-10) from long range as Michael Fakuade led NIU with eight first half points.
Northern Illinois broke the game open as it came out of the halftime break and scored the first nine points of the half on its way to a 19-4 run through the first 10-plus minutes. The Huskies took a 43-30 lead as the Cardinals connected on just two of their first 13 shots from the field during the stretch. Xavier Silas started to heat up in the second half as he scored 20 of his 25 points in the second half.
Ball State tried to chip away at the NIU lead as the Cardinals were strong from the free throw line, connecting on 90 percent (9-of-10) in the second half. BSU narrowed the gap to nine points at 53-44 with an 8-2 run that was capped by a three-pointer from freshman guard Myron Green Jr. (Long Beach, Calif./Dominguez). The Cardinals had a chance to make it a two-possession game, but they could not get another three-pointer to fall down the stretch.
The Cardinals finished the game shooting 27.1 percent (16-of-59) from the field as they were held to just 19.4 percent shooting (6-of-31) in the second half. Ball State was solid from the charity stripe in the loss as it connected on 87.5 percent (14-of-16) in the game. Jones finished the night with seven points as he was held scoreless in the second half. Sophomore guard Pierre Sneed (Chicago, Ill./Simeon) added seven rebounds off of the bench in 21 minutes of action to finish tied for the team lead.
Northern Illinois used a strong second half performance as it out-scored the Cardinals 38-22 in the half. The Huskies connected on 38.8 percent (19-of-49) from the field in the game, including 37.5 percent (6-of-16) from three-point land. Silas finished the night with 25 points and nine rebounds as he was a perfect 15-of-15 from the free throw line.
The Cardinals will continue MAC play Wednesday night as they travel to Mount Pleasant, Mich., for a meeting with the Central Michigan Chippewas. Game time is set for 7 p.m.
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