Cardinals Win Home Opener 68-66

MUNCIE - The Ball State men's basketball team made the big plays when it counted in a 68-66 victory over UIC Saturday afternoon at Worthen Arena. A 3-point play by leading scorer K.J. Walton with a minute left and steady foul shooting down the stretch helped BSU pick up its first win of the season.

Walton, who entered the game averaging 24 points and nine rebounds, put up 25 points on 8-for-13 shooting and 9-for-10 at the foul line. Ishmael El-Amin had his best game of the young season, scoring 22 points with six boards and four assists. Five players scored in double figures for UIC (3-1).

Ball State led for most of the game before and held a 41-25 lead in the second half before UIC answered. A 17-5 run by UIC over 6:53 got the visitors within 46-42 and they would eventually take a 55-54 lead with a tip-in and then score an alley-oop jam on the very next possession. Ball State trailed 59-56 with 2:55 left in the game but made 10 of its 13 free throws to clinch the win.

TURNING POINT: The game was tied at 59 with 1:40 to go when Walton scored five points in 61 seconds to take command. HIs 3-point play and two other free throws allowed Ball State to lead 64-59 in the final minute. The game was extended with fouls and UIC would bank in a 3-pointer to pull within 66-65 late in the game, but a pair of foul shots by El-Amin with seven seconds left and his rebound as time expired clinched the game for the Cards (1-2).

NON-CONFERENCE LOSSES A NON-STARTER: Ball State improved to 29-6 in its last 35 non-conference home games, dating back to 2015.

LEADING FROM THE BACKCOURT: Starting guards Walton and El-Amin, with 47 combined points on 13-of-27 shooting on Saturday, now together average 40.0 points and 9.3 rebounds per game. The duo shot 20-for-22 at the foul line and now account for 58 percent of Ball State's scoring.

HEAR IT STRAIGHT FROM THE COACH: "I thought it was a good game for us," head coach James Whitford said. "We showed some grit down at the end. For the first time all year, our defense was way better. We've been talking about getting better. and we did that today. We'll learn from this one and try to be even better on Tuesday."

RELEASE THE BRACHEN: The first play of the second half was a set play where Hazen rolled to the rim for a dunk. The in-arena announcer exclaimed, "Release the Brachen!" after the play. Playing his 50th game as as Cardinal, Hazen had one of his best outings. He scored 12 points with seven rebounds and was a catalyst early in the second half as BSU built a 42-30 lead. Hazen scored five points and had two steals over the first 3:55 of the second half as the Cardinals took control. Hazen also finished the day with a game-high four offensive rebounds.

Miryne Thomas, who did not play at Michigan, started and grabbed a team-best eight rebounds.

The Cardinals, who led for nearly 33 minutes of game time, found 14 points from turnovers and held a slight advantage (8-6) in offensive rebounding. Ball State entered the game in the nation's top 50 in taking care of the ball and continued that trend by only making 10 turnovers.

UP NEXT: Three days after its home opener, Ball State will have its conference opener on the road. BSU will play at Northern Illinois Tuesday at 7 p.m. ET (6 CT).

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Team Stats

K.J. Walton

Ishmael El-Amin

Brachen Hazen

Luke Bumbalough

Players Mentioned

Ishmael El-Amin

Miryne Thomas

K.J. Walton

Players Mentioned

Ishmael El-Amin

Miryne Thomas

K.J. Walton