Ball State University
7-11, 2-5MAC
Akron
14-6, 5-2MAC
Shorthanded Men's Hoops Shows Fight at Akron
January 27, 2015 | Men's Basketball
AKRON, Ohio -- An undermanned and undersized Ball State team put up a strong fight Tuesday night against one of the best teams in the Mid-American Conference.
In the end, the deeper Akron Zips wore the Cardinals down on the way to a 59-47 win on a special night at James A. Rhodes Arena.
Akron staged a second annual Purple Out in memory of its former director of basketball operations Dan Peters, father of Ball State assistant coach Danny Peters. It was Danny Peters' first game coaching in his dad's old gym, and his father would have been proud of the way both teams competed.
No player more exemplified the fight Ball State showed than Bo Calhoun. The junior forward made his second straight start in place of an injured Matt Kamieniecki and registered career highs with 14 points and 12 rebounds. He did it despite sustaining a cut on his forehead that required stitches and sent him to the locker room during the first half.
"Bo did a great job," Ball State coach James Whitford said. "Akron is the biggest and most physical team in our league. And he had a split head. He competed at both ends and he's really getting better. I'm proud of him because he's earned it."
Without Kamieniecki, the Cardinals (7-11, 2-5 MAC) used just a seven-man rotation with only one player seeing fewer than 25 minutes. Akron (14-6, 5-2 MAC), on the other hand, utilized 11 players, only one of whom played more than 25 minutes.
The Cardinals had a pair of 6-foot-6 post players in Calhoun and Franko House matching up with a trio of Akron players who all stand 6-foot-9 or taller. Calhoun and House both picked up their fourth foul early in the second half.
"They're physicality and their ability to rotate as many players as they did, I thought they started to wear us down," Whitford said. "As we fatigued, we started making more mistakes. But we were invested the right way. We competed, we fought, and we did the things that we can control to the best of our ability."
It was a tie game at halftime, but Akron began to seize control when it started to pick up full court with pressure at the beginning of the second half. After committing only four turnovers in the first half, the Cardinals gave it away eight times in the second.
Akron's leading scorer Pat Forsythe scored 11 of his game-high 17 points in the second half as Akron pulled away. The Zips shot 50 percent as a team after halftime and used a 13-3 run at one point to open up a double-digit lead.
Ball State finished the game shooting 37.5 percent from the floor and struggled at the free throw line, making 5 of 12 attempts.
"I thought our guys really competed," Whitford said. "We shoot the ball better today and make some free throws, and it's going to be a one- or two-possession game down the stretch."
Rocco Belcaster finished with nine points for the Cardinals, while House and Sean Sellers scored eight each. Ten different Akron players scored.
Ball State will play its second road game of the week Saturday with a 3:30 p.m. contest at Miami. The game will be televised by the Ball State Sports Network and will also air on ESPN3.
