Ball State University Athletics
Ball State University
12-5 (4-1MAC)
Northern Illinois
2-15 (1-4MAC)
Men's Basketball Posts 75-65 Victory At NIU
January 21, 2012 | Men's Basketball
DEKALB, Ill. - The Ball State men's basketball team completed its first run through the Mid-American Conference West Division with a 4-1 record as the Cardinals posted a 75-65 victory over Northern Illinois Saturday night at the Convocation Center. The Cardinals are tied for the top spot in the MAC West Division with Eastern Michigan.
"Tonight was really a hard fought game," head coach Billy Taylor said. "We knew coming into this game that Northern Illinois would play hard for 40 minutes. We wanted our guys to battle for 40 minutes and we did that tonight. Both teams play tough half-court defense so we wanted to get out in transition which we were able to do tonight, especially late in the first half."
Senior forward Jarrod Jones (Michigan City, Ind./Michigan City) paced four Cardinals in double figures in the victory as he scored a team-high 17 points while grabbing eight rebounds and recording three blocked shots. Sophomore forward Chris Bond (Gary, Ind./Bowman Academy) chipped in 14 points as he was 4-of-6 from the field and hit all six of his free throws.
Senior guard Randy Davis (Plymouth, Ind./Plymouth) rounded out the double figure scorers as he tallied 11 points. Davis, who leads the NCAA Division I in assist/turnover ratio (3.70), handed out a game-high six assists while only committing one turnover. Sophomore guard Jesse Berry (Lafayette, Ind./Jefferson) added 12 points off the bench in 26 minutes, including a pair of three-pointers.
The two teams battled back-and-forth for most of the first half with the Huskies taking a 21-16 lead with 7:39 left in the half. The Cardinals answered with five straight to tie the game as Davis nailed a three-pointer and Jones scored in the paint to tie the game at 21-21.
Ball State (12-5, 4-1 MAC) closed the first half on a 9-0 run to take a 37-28 lead into the locker room. Bond scored four points in the run while Davis nailed a deep three-pointer at the buzzer to give the Cardinals their largest lead of the half.
Ball State connected on 48.1 percent (13-of-27) from the field and 36.4 percent (4-of-11) from three-point land. The Cardinals were led by Davis who scored nine first half points on 3-of-5 shooting from deep while Bond and Jones each added six points. Northern Illinois connected on 40.0 percent (10-of-25) from the field and 37.5 percent (3-of-8) from long range. Aksel Bolin and Abdel Nader each scored eight points in the first half to pace the Huskies.
The Cardinals came out of the halftime break and extended their lead to a game-high 15 points at 50-35. Sophomore Tyler Koch (Winchester, Ind./Wright State) opened the half with a three-pointer while Jones posted four straight points to force Northern Illinois into a timeout.
The Huskies responded with a 10-0 run to force the Cardinals into a timeout. Ball State responded to the adversity as Bond and Jones scored on consecutive possessions before Koch nailed a three-pointer to extend the lead back to double figures.
Northern Illinois (2-15, 1-4 MAC) tried to make a late comeback as Nader started to catch fire from long range in the second half as he scored 18 points, including four three-pointers. The Cardinals had an answer for Nader though as they found big shots down the stretch, including a key three-pointer from Jones with 2:53 left in the game as the shot clock ran down to thwart the comeback attempt.
Ball State finished the game shooting 54.0 percent (27-of-50) from the field and 40 percent (8-of-20) from long range. Northern Illinois was limited to 43.4 percent (23-of-53) shooting from the field and 40 percent (8-of-20) from long range.
Koch finished the game with eight points and five rebounds in 33 minutes of action while sophomore Tyrae Robinson (Gary, Ind./Bowman Academy) added eight points in the victory. Northern Illinois was led by Nader's 26 points as he was the only Huskie in double figures in the loss.
The Cardinals begin MAC crossover play Tuesday night as they host reigning MAC Tournament champion Akron. Game time is set for 7 p.m. at Worthen Arena and will be broadcast by SportsTime Ohio and Comcast Indiana.
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