Ball State University
6-3
IUPUI
5-8
Men's Basketball Falls To IUPUI At Conseco
December 19, 2011 | Men's Basketball
INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. - The Ball State men's basketball team saw its six-game winning streak come to an end Monday night as the Cardinals suffered a 66-57 defeat to IUPUI at Conseco Fieldhouse. The loss drops the Cardinals to 6-3 on the season and is their first loss since November 18 at Indiana State.
"Tonight's game really came down to toughness, our lack of toughness and IUPUI playing with toughness," fifth-year head coach Billy Taylor said. "IUPUI really attacked the boards hard and played physical in the interior, which are two things we pride ourselves on and we obviously didn't do either tonight."
Senior forward Jarrod Jones (Michigan City, Ind./Michigan City) paced three Cardinals in double figures in the loss as he scored 16 points on 5-of-13 shooting from the field and 6-of-6 from the free throw line. Sophomore forward Chris Bond (Michigan City, Ind./Michigan City) added a season-high 13 points and eight rebounds in the loss.
"We are not going to make any excuses," Taylor said. "We had an opportunity to come and play in a big-time venue in Conseco tonight and we just didn't bring it the way that we needed to in order to be successful. We got out-toughed tonight."
Ball State came out of the gate and scored the first eight points of the night to force IUPUI into an early timeout. Jones scored six points in the first two-plus minutes to ignite the early run. IUPUI regrouped and posted a 13-2 run to take a 13-10 lead. Ian Chiles scored seven points in the spurt, including a deep three-pointer to give the Jaguars the lead.
The Cardinals responded with a 9-0 run as redshirt sophomore Tyler Koch (Winchester, Ind./Wright State) scored seven straight points, culminating with one of the Cardinals' two three-pointers of the first half. Ball State extended its lead to 26-20 with 4:30 left in the first half as sophomore Jesse Berry (Lafayette, Ind./Jefferson) nailed a three-pointer and senior Randy Davis (Plymouth, Ind./Plymouth) hit two free throws.
IUPUI closed the first half on a 13-2 run to take a 32-29 lead into the locker room. The Jaguars rode the hot-shooting of Chiles who scored eight points in the final four minutes to head into the locker room with 15 first half points, just two shy of his career-high, as he hit 6-of-9 from the field, including three three-pointers.
Ball State connected on 45.5 percent (10-of-22) from the field and 40 percent (2-of-5) from three-point land. The Cardinals committed six first half turnovers and were out-rebounded in the first half by a 19-11 margin. Jones led BSU with eight first half points while Koch added seven points. IUPUI connected on 44.8 percent (13-of-29) from the field and 50 percent (5-of-10) from three-point land to take a three-point lead at the break.
IUPUI opened the second half on a 17-4 run to open its biggest lead of the night at 49-33. Alex Young, the reigning Summit League Player of the Year, started to heat up as he scored nine points in the run on his way to a game-high 22 points, 17 of which came in the second half.
Ball State was able to trim the lead to five points at 62-57 with 1:02 left as it posted a 21-10 stretch but could not get over the hump before suffering a nine-point loss. The Cardinals were out-rebounded by a 36-30 margin and were out-scored 17-4 on second chance points as the Jaguars recorded 16 offensive rebounds.
Ball State finished the game shooting 40.4 percent (19-of-47) from the field and just 20 percent (2-of-10) from three-point land. The Cardinals also committed a season-high 16 turnovers in the loss while only handing out 11 assists. Berry rounded out the Cardinals' in double figures as he scored 10 points off the bench. Koch added seven points while Davis posted six points and six assists.
IUPUI ended the night shooting 38.6 percent (22-of-57) from the field and 35.3 percent (6-of-17) from long range. The Jaguars were strong from the free throw line hitting 80 percent (16-of-20), including 15 in the second half as the Cardinals tried to rally. Chiles added 17 points to tie his career-high with Lyonell Gaines chipped in eight points and six rebounds.
Ball State closes out the road portion of the non-conference schedule Friday evening as it travels to 2011 NCAA Tournament participant Morehead State. Game time is set for 6 p.m.
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