Men's Hoops Handles NIU 77-68 for Fifth Straight Win

MUNCIE, Ind. -- The Ball State men's basketball team ran its winning streak to five games Tuesday with a 77-68 victory over Northern Illinois at Worthen Arena.

Junior center Trey Moses scored a career-high 23 points and senior guard Sean Sellers tied the school's career 3-point record as the Cardinals improved to 14-1 at home this season.

Ball State (19-9, 10-5 MAC) moved within a game of first-place Toledo in the MAC West Division standings with three games to play. The Cardinals will close out their home schedule Friday with the annual #MuncieOut game against Western Michigan at 9 p.m.

Northern Illinois (12-16, 5-10 MAC) was coming off victories over league-leading Buffalo and MAC West preseason favorite Western Michigan in its past three games.

Ball State Head Coach James Whitford:
"Every game in this league is a fight, and this one was too for a lot of the game. I thought the second half, the way we started it and really for the first 15 minutes, we were outstanding. The first half was a grind. We weren't playing that well offensively, but we were able to keep the lead because our defense was solid. In the second half, I thought we put both parts together. We got (the lead) up to about 20 but didn't play with the lead as well as we should have."

Inside the Numbers
• Moses added 12 rebounds for his ninth double-double of the season and his seventh in conference play. He had scored 22 points, his old career-high, three times in the previous seven games before surpassing it Tuesday. He also added a season-best three blocks.

• Sellers drained a pair of second-half 3-pointers to give him 224 for his career, matching Jesse Berry (2010-14) for the most in program history. The senior from Greensburg, Indiana, has made 41 percent of his 3's in his career.

• Tayler Persons recorded 14 points and five assists, while Tahjai Teague finished just shy of another double-double with 13 points and nine boards. Sellers gave the Cardinals a fourth double-figure scorer with 12 points.

• Ball State had its streak to 50 percent shooting games snapped at three. The Cardinals shot just 37 percent in the first half before hitting 10 of their first 17 shots after the break on the way to 42.4 percent for the night.

• MAC leading scorer Eugene German scored a game-high 25 points for NIU, but the Huskies made just 2 of 10 from 3-point range. Most of their buckets came off the dribble, as they recorded just three assists on 26 made baskets.

• Ball State has now turned the ball over a combined 13 times in the past two games. After recording a season-low six turnovers in Saturday's win over Toledo, the Cardinals had just six against NIU.

• At 14-1 inside Worthen Arena this season, Ball State is one shy of the school record for home wins in a season. The Cardinals won 15 home games in three straight seasons from 1990-93. The 14 home wins this year are the most since the 1997-98 season.

How it Happened
• The Cardinals continued their trend of opening with hot starts, beginning the game on an 8-0 run. It was the fourth straight game BSU has led at least 7-0.

• Northern Illinois rallied with a 9-1 run to grab a 20-18 lead with 8:28 to play. The teams went back-and-forth, and it was a tie game with 2 minutes left in the first half before the Cardinals scored five straight on the way to a 37-32 halftime lead.

• The Cardinals came out of the break quickly and doubled their lead in the first 3 minutes.

• A pair of free throws from NIU's Levi Bradley cut the Ball State advantage to 44-41 with 13:30 to play, but the Cardinals went on a 29-9 run over the next 6-plus minutes to open up a 73-50 lead.

• NIU put together a charge down the stretch, but the margin was too much to overcome. German's layup on the Huskies' final possession brought the lead back to nine.

Up Next
• Ball State will close out its home schedule Friday with its annual #MuncieOut game. The Cardinals will host Western Michigan at 9 p.m. in a nationally televised contest on ESPN2.

• Promotions for Friday's game include $10 silver level tickets, $5 bronze level tickets, $1 hot dogs and free parking. Read all about it here and here.

Men's Hoops Handles NIU 77-68 for Fifth Straight Win

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Team Stats

Trey Moses

Tayler Persons

Tahjai Teague

Sean Sellers

Players Mentioned

Trey Moses

Tayler Persons

Sean Sellers

Tahjai Teague

Players Mentioned

Trey Moses

Tayler Persons

Sean Sellers

Tahjai Teague