Friday, November 19
St. Petersburg, Fla.
5:30 p.m.
Ball State University
1-3,0-0MAC
74
vs
85
Weber State
4-0,0-0Big Sky
1
2
F
Weber St.
35
50
85
Ball State
33
41
74
Photo by: Chad Smith
Cardinals Drop Tough One to Wildcats
November 19, 2021 | Men's Basketball
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – The Ball State men's basketball team fell to 1-3 overall on Friday after an 85-74 loss to Weber State (4-0) on day two of the Jersey Mike's Classic. Luke Bumbalough led the Cardinals with a 14-point performance.
Like previous games, the Cardinals jumped out to a fast start with a 7-3 run. Payton Sparks made a tough layup and Demarius Jacobs added a 3-pointer and a fast-break layup. After Weber State made the score 7-5, Basheer Jihad was able to make a highly contested layup despite the hard contact. He converted the and-1 opportunity.
Mickey Pearson Jr. started to heat up and scored Ball State's next four points as the Cardinals held a 14-7 lead with 11:57 to go in the first half. BSU and WSU traded baskets, but Ball State held a 21-12 lead with 8:41 left in the first stanza.
The Wildcats went on a 9-2 run and tied the game at 23-23 with 4:40 remaining in the first half. Pearson ended that run with a 3-point shot to put BSU on top 26-23. The two squads battled the remainder of the half, but Weber State took a 35-33 lead into half on a shot with little time left on the clock.
After the Wildcats scored the first four points in the second half, the Cardinals responded with a 14-2 run and regained the lead, 47-41. The Ball State lead grew to 52-46, with 13:41 left in regulation as Jalen Windham made three free throws. Tyler Cochran and Jaylin Sellers put the Cardinals up, 57-48, after two free throws and a fast-break layup, respectively.
With just under 11 minutes left in the game, Weber State pulled within three after Koby McEwen hit from 3-point range. Bumbalough responded with a 3 of his own and extend the BSU lead to 62-56.
The Wildcats managed to tie the game 64-64 with eight minutes left to play. The teams were trading buckets and the score remained tied 69-69 late in the second half. Weber State went on to outscore Ball State 16-5 in the final 6:20 of the game.
Bumbalough finished with a team-high 14 points, tied for a team-high two steals, and added four rebounds. Sparks produced 13 points and led the team with six rebounds. Sparks has led the team in rebounding in two of the four games. Pearson collected 12 points and chipped in with five rebounds. Windham recorded double digits behind an 11-point performance, went 5-for-5 from the free-throw line, and added three boards. Cochran led the team with five assists and had zero turnovers.
As a team, the Cardinals improved vastly at the free-throw line as they shot 88.2 percent and scored 15 points at the line. Ball State finished the game shooting 41.7 percent from the field and 34.6 percent from 3-point range. The BSU bench outscored the WSU bench, 28-12.
McEwen led all scorers with 30 points. Dillion Jones recorded a double-double with 19 points and 14 rebounds. JJ Overton added 13 points to give WSU three players with double-digit points. As a team, the Wildcats shot 51.8 percent from the field and outrebounded the Cardinals 37-32.
The Cardinals look to bounce back on the final day of the Jersey Mike's Classic on Sunday. Ball State will take on UMass. The game is scheduled for a 2:30 p.m. tip.
From the Coach – Head Coach James Whitford
"I thought it was a really, really hard-fought game. I thought Weber State is a really good team. I thought we really battled. I think we led for the lion's share and 34 minutes of the game. Then we had another moment where we kind of came unraveled. I thought there was a lot of good that game out of tonight too. We have to learn from it. Basketball is a game of runs, and you know that's all part of it is just us losing our composure when the game starts to get hard. That's happened to us a number of different times. I think it's really important Payton had 13 and he drew five fouls inside and I think he's just kind of scratching the surface of who he can be in the post. He had a couple of really big time moves. They had to change the way they were playing because of Payton's quickness."
From the Student-Athlete – Junior Guard #2 Luke Bumbalough
"I know we've been talking about that. We know down the last five minutes of the game, we got to figure it out. It's a long season, but we've got to trust each other to stay composed in the moment and just stand together. You know there's always going to be runs and we're going to figure it out like you said we're young, we're a new team. It's a long season and we're just staying together and just trusting each other. Trust like coach said and we'll figure it out. I felt like they were hugging us more not helping as much so, we went through Payton, and he did a great job in the first half. Mickey stepped up big and we a lot of guys step up."
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Like previous games, the Cardinals jumped out to a fast start with a 7-3 run. Payton Sparks made a tough layup and Demarius Jacobs added a 3-pointer and a fast-break layup. After Weber State made the score 7-5, Basheer Jihad was able to make a highly contested layup despite the hard contact. He converted the and-1 opportunity.
Mickey Pearson Jr. started to heat up and scored Ball State's next four points as the Cardinals held a 14-7 lead with 11:57 to go in the first half. BSU and WSU traded baskets, but Ball State held a 21-12 lead with 8:41 left in the first stanza.
The Wildcats went on a 9-2 run and tied the game at 23-23 with 4:40 remaining in the first half. Pearson ended that run with a 3-point shot to put BSU on top 26-23. The two squads battled the remainder of the half, but Weber State took a 35-33 lead into half on a shot with little time left on the clock.
After the Wildcats scored the first four points in the second half, the Cardinals responded with a 14-2 run and regained the lead, 47-41. The Ball State lead grew to 52-46, with 13:41 left in regulation as Jalen Windham made three free throws. Tyler Cochran and Jaylin Sellers put the Cardinals up, 57-48, after two free throws and a fast-break layup, respectively.
With just under 11 minutes left in the game, Weber State pulled within three after Koby McEwen hit from 3-point range. Bumbalough responded with a 3 of his own and extend the BSU lead to 62-56.
The Wildcats managed to tie the game 64-64 with eight minutes left to play. The teams were trading buckets and the score remained tied 69-69 late in the second half. Weber State went on to outscore Ball State 16-5 in the final 6:20 of the game.
Bumbalough finished with a team-high 14 points, tied for a team-high two steals, and added four rebounds. Sparks produced 13 points and led the team with six rebounds. Sparks has led the team in rebounding in two of the four games. Pearson collected 12 points and chipped in with five rebounds. Windham recorded double digits behind an 11-point performance, went 5-for-5 from the free-throw line, and added three boards. Cochran led the team with five assists and had zero turnovers.
As a team, the Cardinals improved vastly at the free-throw line as they shot 88.2 percent and scored 15 points at the line. Ball State finished the game shooting 41.7 percent from the field and 34.6 percent from 3-point range. The BSU bench outscored the WSU bench, 28-12.
McEwen led all scorers with 30 points. Dillion Jones recorded a double-double with 19 points and 14 rebounds. JJ Overton added 13 points to give WSU three players with double-digit points. As a team, the Wildcats shot 51.8 percent from the field and outrebounded the Cardinals 37-32.
The Cardinals look to bounce back on the final day of the Jersey Mike's Classic on Sunday. Ball State will take on UMass. The game is scheduled for a 2:30 p.m. tip.
From the Coach – Head Coach James Whitford
"I thought it was a really, really hard-fought game. I thought Weber State is a really good team. I thought we really battled. I think we led for the lion's share and 34 minutes of the game. Then we had another moment where we kind of came unraveled. I thought there was a lot of good that game out of tonight too. We have to learn from it. Basketball is a game of runs, and you know that's all part of it is just us losing our composure when the game starts to get hard. That's happened to us a number of different times. I think it's really important Payton had 13 and he drew five fouls inside and I think he's just kind of scratching the surface of who he can be in the post. He had a couple of really big time moves. They had to change the way they were playing because of Payton's quickness."
From the Student-Athlete – Junior Guard #2 Luke Bumbalough
"I know we've been talking about that. We know down the last five minutes of the game, we got to figure it out. It's a long season, but we've got to trust each other to stay composed in the moment and just stand together. You know there's always going to be runs and we're going to figure it out like you said we're young, we're a new team. It's a long season and we're just staying together and just trusting each other. Trust like coach said and we'll figure it out. I felt like they were hugging us more not helping as much so, we went through Payton, and he did a great job in the first half. Mickey stepped up big and we a lot of guys step up."
Follow the Cardinals
*For tickets call 1-888-BSU-TICKET or 765-285-1474, or click here.
Team Stats
WEBER
BSU
FG%
.518
.417
3FG%
.318
.346
FT%
.769
.882
RB
37
32
TO
11
15
STL
6
5
Game Leaders
Scoring
Pts
14
FGM
4
3FGM
3
FTM
3
Pts
13
FGM
5
3FGM
0
FTM
3
Pts
12
FGM
5
3FGM
1
FTM
1
Pts
11
FGM
2
3FGM
2
FTM
5
Players Mentioned
G
/ Men's Basketball
G
/ Men's Basketball
G
/ Men's Basketball
F
/ Men's BasketballF
/ Men's Basketball
G
/ Men's BasketballC
/ Men's BasketballG
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