Ball State University
Valparaiso
Cardinals “Played Great for 40 Minutes” in All-Around Performance at Valpo
December 17, 2018 | Men's Basketball
Ball State finishes 3-1 over four-game road stretch with another in-state victory
Tahjai Teague led the way with 19 points and 12 rebounds, as the Cardinals won at Valpo for the first time since 1990. The teams did not meet for a 15-year stretch, so the drought was a span of six trips to the Athletics-Recreation Center. Still, it's never an easy place to win.
Ball State (7-4) polished off its four-game road stretch at 3-1 and will play a home game at Worthen Arena on Thursday for the first time in more than three weeks. Monday's BSU victory was the first by a road team in the series in five years.
"It was just a really good win," Ball State head coach James Whitford said. "I thought we played great for 40 minutes."
Ball State seized control with a 20-3 run that spanned the first and second halves, turning a tie game into a 17-point lead over the Crusaders (6-5).
The Cardinals made eight of their final nine shots from the floor in the first half, getting most of their looks at the rim. Trey Moses played a big part in that, finding teammates cutting to the basket on his way to four first-half assists.
BSU 29, Valpo 25 (2:17, 1st)
— Ball State Basketball (@BallStateMBB) December 18, 2018
Trey Moses passing the ball at a high level. He has assisted on three straight BSU baskets and has four assists on the night, all of them finding teammates for buckets at the rim just like this ...#ChirpChirp | #WeFly | #BSUvsValpo pic.twitter.com/hf9Aj0L7Qu
Ball State knocked down its first 3-pointer during that stretch, an Ishmael El-Amin corner jumper, after starting 0-for-8 from beyond the arc. The outside shots may not have been falling early, but the offense was running just as Whitford hoped.
Ball State scored 28 of its 35 first-half points in the paint and finished the game with 48, marking its highest output in the paint against a Division I opponent this season.
"I thought we got great shots from start to finish," Whitford said. "I thought our shot selection was terrific. I just told our guys to keep playing the same way. We wanted to get the ball inside because we've done such a good job of attacking post traps this year, and traditionally they trap."
Ball State couldn't play at the same pace in the second half, mostly because the whistles really picked up. The teams were called for a combined 30 fouls after the break.
Valparaiso was in the double bonus with 11 minutes left to play. Trey Moses, who didn't commit a foul in the first half, had four of them seemingly before you could blink. Kyle Mallers and Zach Gunn eventually fouled out.
So the Cardinals were forced to do more in the halfcourt, but that wasn't a problem. Ball State still shot 50 percent after the break, and Tayler Persons got in on the scoring act.
Persons took only three shots in the first half and didn't score through almost 26 minutes, but he racked up 14 the rest of the way, going 4-for-5 from the floor, 2-for-2 from 3-point range and 4-for-4 from the foul line in the second half. He also added seven assists, five rebounds and four steals.
Valpo rallied to cut Ball State's lead to 67-59 with 2:45 to play, but Josh Thompson found Teague for a lay-in to answer. Then Persons scored four straight to put the game out of reach before finding K.J. Walton for an alley-oop dunk to seal it.
Putting an exclamation point on this one!
— Ball State Basketball (@BallStateMBB) December 18, 2018
TP to K.J. ??????#ChirpChirp | #WeFly | #BSUvsValpo #SCtop10 pic.twitter.com/0eBcCXIKRh
Walton finished with 17 points, and Moses added 12 to give the Cardinals four scorers in double figures.
Ball State held the Crusaders to 40 percent shooting and forced 17 turnovers. Valpo leading scorer Derrik Smits had just two points and played only nine minutes after getting into foul trouble. Ryan Fazekas led Valpo with 19 points.
Ball State improved to 4-1 against the Missouri Valley Conference this year and 4-2 against the state of Indiana. BSU is 8-2 against the state dating back to last season.
The Cardinals will return to Worthen Arena to host Howard on Thursday in their final game before a holiday break. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m. on ESPN+.
"Just a really good win. I thought we played great for 40 minutes."
— Ball State Basketball (@BallStateMBB) December 18, 2018
Coach Whitford on his team's effort to beat Valpo and finish 3-1 on the road stretch.#ChirpChirp | #WeFly | #BSUvsValpo pic.twitter.com/en768EDgmT
"We preach defense every week in practice. We were amping up the defense as the game went along, and I think that's why we won."@Kj_Walton1 on tonight's victory at Valparaiso#ChirpChirp | #WeFly | #BSUvsValpo pic.twitter.com/2mCdUt5VyK
— Ball State Basketball (@BallStateMBB) December 18, 2018
"I'm really proud of our guys ... To come out here and play a really good team like Valpo and beat them on their home floor is a good feat for us."@TaylerPersons8 talks about tonight's bounce back performance.#ChirpChirp | #WeFly | #BSUvsValpo pic.twitter.com/7nXxEJfYFi
— Ball State Basketball (@BallStateMBB) December 18, 2018
