Big Second Half Propels Men’s Hoops Past Stony Brook

Friday, November 17

Muncie, Ind.

7:00 PM ET

Ball State University

1-2

Stony Brook

0-3

Stony Brook

Ball State

Photo by: Justin Casterline

Big Second Half Propels Men’s Hoops Past Stony Brook

November 17, 2017 | Men's Basketball

Box Score PDF Box Score Post-Game Press Conference

Tayler Persons leads all scorers with 29 points in BSU victory

MUNCIE, Ind. -- The Ball State men's basketball team outscored Stony Brook by 19 in the second half Friday night to overcome an eight-point deficit at the break for an 87-76 victory at Worthen Arena.

Junior point guard Tayler Persons scored 29 points on 12-of-18 shooting from the floor in the Cardinals' home opener.

Ball State (1-2) attacked the basket throughout the night, holding a 38-26 advantage in the paint and getting to the foul line, where the Cardinals made 27 of 34 attempts.

"It really had to do with the way they were playing us," Ball State head coach James Whitford said. "They were making our guys get inside and finish. I thought we took what the defense gave us, and I thought we had to go inside tonight. Tayler had to take a lot of shots because they weren't allowing him to draw a second defender and pass."

Ball State found itself trailing 42-34 at the break after a hot shooting start from Stony Brook. The Seawolves, who pushed UConn to the brink earlier this week, made 8 of 15 attempts from 3-point range in the opening half, including a 3-for-3 effort from Tyrell Sturdivant.

The Cardinals buckled down in the second half. Sturdivant was 1 for 6 from beyond the arc after halftime, and Stony Brook (0-3) was 2 for 12 as a team.

"We had to defend the 3-point line," Whitford said. "They have proven against competition they can shoot the ball. I thought we gave them too many looks early, and I thought we did a better job closing it down (in the second half). It was just us kind of tightening up our defense that was really the difference."

Ball State scored on its first six possessions of the second half and eventually grabbed its first lead at 54-53 on a 3-point play from Kyle Mallers. The teams traded the lead back and forth for the next five minutes before the Cardinals took the lead for good on a Jontrell Walker free throw with 7:38 to play.

That was the start of a 17-6 run that put Ball State in control down the stretch. Persons scored 10 of his points during that span, including a pair of big 3-pointers, and BSU went on to seal the win at the free throw line.

Mallers scored 16 points for the Cardinals, while Tahjai Teague had 13 to go along with a career-high five steals. Sean Sellers added 10 points.

UC Iroegbu scored 18 points to lead Stony Brook, a team that has played in a postseason tournament in each of the past six seasons.

"I was really proud of our team, the way we fought through in the second half," Whitford said. "That's a good win for us. Stony Brook's a good team. I think we're going to look up in March and look at that as being a quality win. I thought our guys really hung together and battled, and I was proud of them."

Friday marked the second in a stretch of three games in five days for Ball State, with games in Oklahoma, Muncie and Oregon. The Cardinals will travel to play Sunday at Oregon with a tipoff at 6 p.m. PT (9 ET) on Pac-12 Network.