Cardinals Move Into 3rd Place With 78-58 Win

MUNCIE - A balanced offense, an all-conference player returns and a stifling defensive effort lifted the Ball State men's basketball team to a 78-58 win over Northern Illinois on Saturday afternoon at Worthen Arena. Miryne Thomas scored 20 points and had a team-leading seven rebounds as five different Cardinals scored at least nine points.

The blowout win was the team's second this week, as the Cards beat Bowling Green by 24 on Tuesday before Saturday's 20-point win. Ball State (6-5) is now 4-2 in MAC play and holds third place in the standings outright.

Thomas, whose career high of 21 points came at his previous school, got his first 20-point effort at Ball State on 6-for-7 shooting and 4-for-4 from 3-point range. He was a missed layup and a missed free throw away from a perfect shooting day.

Luke Bumbalough scored 11 points with three made 3-pointers and K.J. Walton and Blake Huggins each scored 10. Eleven Cardinals saw action in the game and nine of them entered the scoring column.

TURNING POINT: Ball State controlled the game for much of the day, with an early 9-0 giving the Cardinals a 17-6 lead. The cushion was double figures almost the rest of the way and Ball State cruised to a 34-19 lead at halftime. NIU did at one point close within 58-49 with 9:03 to play, but the Cardinals answered with a 7-0 run to go up 16 and extended the lead from there.

STRAIGHT FROM THE COACH: "It was a really good win. I thought we did a good job defensively and rebounding the ball. We made some shots late. It was a really good team win," head coach James Whitford said. "We've had three games where we've defensively been on point. I like our team and feel like we're in a good place. Three weeks from now, we could be a lot better than we are today."

NO FLY ZONE: The Cardinals held NIU to 19 points on 23% shooting in the first half. It was the first time BSU has held an opponent to fewer than 60 points this season and the fourth time this year that BSU has held an opponent to less than 0.9 points per possession.

STANDINGS RACE: It's very early yet, but the win and Buffalo's Friday loss moved BSU into third place in the conference standings. Here are the top 5 as they currently stand:

1. Toledo	6-1
2. Bowling Green	6-1
3. Ball State	4-2
T4. Buffalo/Kent State/Akron	3-2

LET'S BOOGIE: Saturday's game was the first of the year for 2020 MAC Freshman of the Year Jarron 'Boogie' Coleman, who missed the first 10 games with a foot injury. Coleman played 12 minutes off the bench and scored a short jumper and grabbed four rebounds.

"It was great, Jarron was playing really well when he got hurt in October," Whitford said. "He was on a minute limit. He's gong to take a while to get into rhythm, but he's an important player for us. He's going to make us a lot better."

UP NEXT: The Cardinals travel to Miami Tuesday night with a shot at extending the win streak to three. Tip time at Miami is 7 p.m.

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Team Stats

Miryne Thomas

Luke Bumbalough

K.J. Walton

Blake Huggins

Players Mentioned

Luke Bumbalough

Blake Huggins

Miryne Thomas

K.J. Walton

Players Mentioned

Luke Bumbalough

Blake Huggins

Miryne Thomas

K.J. Walton