Men’s Hoops Shoots Past Indiana State, 93-85

Saturday, November 25

Terre Haute, Ind.

1:00 PM ET

Ball State University

2-4

Indiana State

2-4

Ball State

Indiana State

Photo by: Timothy Sofranko

November 25, 2017 | Men's Basketball

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Cardinals make nearly 62 percent from the floor in win over in-state rival

TERRE HAUTE, Ind. -- The Ball State men's basketball team used its best shooting night against a Division I opponent in nearly 15 years to defeat Indiana State 93-85 Saturday at the Hulman Center.

The Cardinals shot 61.7 percent from the floor for their best performance against a D-1 foe since January 2003 at Akron. BSU also made 11 of 19 from beyond the arc.

Five players reached double figures, led by Tayler Persons with 18 points, as the Cardinals (2-4) closed out a long, three-game road trip with a victory. Sean Sellers scored a season-high 14 points, while Tahjai Teague and Jontrell Walker finished with 13. Francis Kiapway added 11.

Ball State led by as many as 19 points in the second half and held off a late charge from Indiana State (2-4), salting the game away at the foul line down the stretch.

The hot shooting helped the Cardinals overcome a season-high 21 turnovers, 13 of which came after halftime.

"They tried to play us normal for a while, and we were making shots," Ball State head coach James Whitford said. "They changed in the second half, and they were really trying to force turnovers. We turned it over 21 times, and that's not something we've been doing to this point.

"But the trade-off was we made a lot of shots. Once we were able to connect on a pass or two, we got whatever we wanted, but it was hard to connect on passes. I thought it was a good effort from us."

Ball State got off to its best start this season, opening on a 9-0 run, scoring on five of its first six possessions and eventually building a 12-point lead at 25-13. The Sycamores chipped away and cut the deficit to 41-35 at the half.

The Cardinals then used an 11-0 run early in the second half to really take control. Ball State took its biggest lead of the night at 78-59 on a 3-pointer from Persons with 5:32 to play.

It was still a 13-point game with two and a half minutes left before Indiana State went on an 8-0 run to pull within five at 84-79. But that was as close the Sycamores could get. Ball State made 9 of 10 free throws in the final minute-plus to seal the game.

The Cardinals, which entered the game at nearly 80 percent from the line as a team, made 24 of 30 from the stripe.

Shots were falling across the board Saturday. Teague finished 5 for 5 overall, while Walker was 4 for 4 from the floor, 2 for 2 from deep and 3 for 3 from the line. Sellers was 4 for 5 from the floor, and Persons was 7 for 10.

"I thought Sean stepped up coming off the bench tonight," Whitford said. "It was a good performance from him. Jontrell continued to do what he's done all the way through, working hard, getting better every day. All-in-all, I thought it was a very good win for us."

Saturday's game was the end of a stretch in which Ball State played five games in 11 days and traveled approximately 8,000 miles.

The Cardinals will return home to play twice this week at Worthen Arena, hosting Oakland City on Tuesday and IUPUI on Saturday. BSU will play eight of its next nine games in Muncie.