Ball State University
7-15 (2-9MAC)
Northern Illinois
10-12 (4-7MAC)
Men's Basketball Falls at Northern Illinois, 75-63
February 10, 2015 | Men's Basketball
DEKALB, Ill. -- The Ball State men's basketball team dropped a 75-63 decision on the road Tuesday night in Mid-American Conference action at Northern Illinois.
The Cardinals (7-15, 2-9 MAC) had the hot hand early, but it was Northern Illinois that finished with the better shooting night. The Huskies (10-12, 4-7 MAC) knocked down 55 percent of their shots, including 70 percent in the second half.
"I thought Northern IIlinois played a really good game," Ball State coach James Whitford said. "When they shoot the ball like they shot the ball tonight, it makes them hard to beat. They're good inside, and we're obviously small, especially without (injured) Matt Kamieniecki. When they shoot the ball well and they can play inside out, they're tough to beat."
Ball State led for the majority of the first half, but NIU closed on an 8-0 run to grab the halftime lead and then maintained it over the majority of the final 20 minutes. The Huskies did their damage in the paint in the first half but extended their lead with jump shots after the break.
Bo Calhoun and Jeremiah Davis led Ball State with 13 points, while Franko House scored 10 points and grabbed a team-high seven rebounds.
Ball State came out of the gates quickly, connecting on 8 of its first 10 from the floor. The Cardinals cooled off a little bit but still shot 54 percent in the first half, including a perfect 9 for 9 from inside the arc. Davis scored 11 of his points in the first half on 5-for-5 shooting.
But the Cardinals went the final 4:43 before halftime without a point as Northern Illinois turned a 32-27 deficit into a 35-32 lead.
"We played 16 minutes of really good basketball in the first half, and the last four minutes we got frustrated," Whitford said. "We took a couple bad shots, had a couple bad turnovers. What we talked about was stemming that momentum, but we weren't able to do it."
The Cardinals rallied to take a brief lead at 48-46 on a Rocco Belcaster 3-pointer with 13:29 to play. But Northern Illinois answered with a 10-0 run to regain its eight-point lead.
It was an 11-point lead before back-to-back 3-pointers from Zavier Turner and Belcaster brought the Cardinals within five at 66-61 with 3:42 to go. That was as close as Ball State could get; a Travon Baker 3-pointer a couple minutes later was the dagger.
Baker knocked down four treys on the night and led Northern Illinois with 16 points. Jordan Threloff (12 points), Michael Orris (11) and Aaron Armstead (10) also scored in double figures for the Huskies. An NIU team that entered the game shooting 29 percent from 3-point range in MAC play finished the game 8-for-14 from beyond the arc.
Turnovers also played a key role, with Northern Illinois converting 14 Ball State giveaways into 21 points on the other end of the floor.
Ball State returns home to host Bowling Green as part of a Saturday men's/women's doubleheader at Worthen Arena. The women's game will begin at 2 p.m., with the men's game to follow at 4:30 p.m.
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