Wednesday, December 8
Cincinnati, Ohio
6:30 p.m.
Ball State University
3-5,0-0MAC
50
at
96
Xavier
8-1,0-0Big East
1
2
F
Ball State
23
27
50
Xavier
45
51
96
Photo by: Chad Smith
Ball State Drops Midweek Matchup at Xavier
December 08, 2021 | Men's Basketball
CINCINNATI – Tyler Cochran and Luke Bumbalough led the team with 10 points each on Wednesday from the Cintas Center. The Ball State men's basketball team dropped a tough one against Xavier, 96-50. With the loss, the Cardinals fell to 3-5 on the season, while the Musketeers improved to 8-1.
The Cardinals started the game strong as Bumbalough knocked down a 3-pointer for the game's first points. After a defensive stop, Cochran made a driving layup and gave Ball State an early 5-0 lead. After a field goal from Xavier, Cochran added another layup and put BSU up five, 7-2, with 16:21 remaining in the half.
The Musketeers responded with a 9-0 run and gained a 13-7 lead with 12:24 in the half. The Cardinals were able to cut the lead to three, 15-12, as Jaylin Sellers made a layup and Basheer Jihad drained a 3-pointer.
From 11:07 to 3:18 in the first half, the Musketeers went on a 20-5 run and extended their lead to 35-17. Miryne Thomas ended the half for Ball State as he scored the team's final six points of the half, including a 3-ball as time was expiring. Xavier took a 45-23 lead into the break.
The Musketeers continued where they left off in the first half, as they started the second on a 17-6 run and extended their lead to 62-29. Xavier saw its lead expand to 44, 82-38, with just over six minutes left in the game. The Musketeers gained its largest lead of 46, 96-50, as they hit a 3-pointer in the closing seconds of the contest.
Cochran tied for the team lead in points with 10 and added a team-high four steals. Bumbalough chipped in with 10 points as well. Demarius Jacobs and Jihad led the team with four rebounds each. Bumbalough and Jacobs tied for the team lead in assists with a pair each. Jihad had the team's lone block of the contest.
Zach Freemantle posted a game-high 24 points on 9-of-11 shooting from the field for Xavier. Colby Jones and Nate Johnson each notched 14 points. Paul Scruggs recorded a game-high nine rebounds.
The Cardinals return to the friendly confines of Worthen Arena on Sunday, Dec. 12. BSU welcomes IU-Kokomo for a 1 p.m. tip.
From the Coach – Head Coach James Whitford
"We didn't play well. We didn't play well at all. It reminded me of the Michigan Tech game for us. We digressed quite a bit. I told the team this reminded me of the Michigan Tech game. One of our DNAs is when things get hard, we try to do too much individually on offense. We let the bad offense affect us defensively. We worked really hard to get that out of our system. We did that some at Georgia Southern and we've been getting better at executing and playing together in adverse situations. We really regressed from the four-minute mark. Some of it was they are very good. For a lot of our guys this was a big stage, In front of a big crowd, on national TV, and I thought some of it was the nerves and jitters. My message to them was we got a lot better from the Michigan Tech game. We got to the point where we beat a UMass team that smacked Penn State. We beat an Indiana State who's pretty good. We got to the point where we were playing good basketball. We have to learn from this game the same way."
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The Cardinals started the game strong as Bumbalough knocked down a 3-pointer for the game's first points. After a defensive stop, Cochran made a driving layup and gave Ball State an early 5-0 lead. After a field goal from Xavier, Cochran added another layup and put BSU up five, 7-2, with 16:21 remaining in the half.
The Musketeers responded with a 9-0 run and gained a 13-7 lead with 12:24 in the half. The Cardinals were able to cut the lead to three, 15-12, as Jaylin Sellers made a layup and Basheer Jihad drained a 3-pointer.
From 11:07 to 3:18 in the first half, the Musketeers went on a 20-5 run and extended their lead to 35-17. Miryne Thomas ended the half for Ball State as he scored the team's final six points of the half, including a 3-ball as time was expiring. Xavier took a 45-23 lead into the break.
The Musketeers continued where they left off in the first half, as they started the second on a 17-6 run and extended their lead to 62-29. Xavier saw its lead expand to 44, 82-38, with just over six minutes left in the game. The Musketeers gained its largest lead of 46, 96-50, as they hit a 3-pointer in the closing seconds of the contest.
Cochran tied for the team lead in points with 10 and added a team-high four steals. Bumbalough chipped in with 10 points as well. Demarius Jacobs and Jihad led the team with four rebounds each. Bumbalough and Jacobs tied for the team lead in assists with a pair each. Jihad had the team's lone block of the contest.
Zach Freemantle posted a game-high 24 points on 9-of-11 shooting from the field for Xavier. Colby Jones and Nate Johnson each notched 14 points. Paul Scruggs recorded a game-high nine rebounds.
The Cardinals return to the friendly confines of Worthen Arena on Sunday, Dec. 12. BSU welcomes IU-Kokomo for a 1 p.m. tip.
From the Coach – Head Coach James Whitford
"We didn't play well. We didn't play well at all. It reminded me of the Michigan Tech game for us. We digressed quite a bit. I told the team this reminded me of the Michigan Tech game. One of our DNAs is when things get hard, we try to do too much individually on offense. We let the bad offense affect us defensively. We worked really hard to get that out of our system. We did that some at Georgia Southern and we've been getting better at executing and playing together in adverse situations. We really regressed from the four-minute mark. Some of it was they are very good. For a lot of our guys this was a big stage, In front of a big crowd, on national TV, and I thought some of it was the nerves and jitters. My message to them was we got a lot better from the Michigan Tech game. We got to the point where we beat a UMass team that smacked Penn State. We beat an Indiana State who's pretty good. We got to the point where we were playing good basketball. We have to learn from this game the same way."
Follow the Cardinals
*For tickets call 1-888-BSU-TICKET or 765-285-1474, or click here.
Team Stats
BSU
XU
FG%
.297
.531
3FG%
.226
.480
FT%
.714
.800
RB
26
51
TO
20
18
STL
11
12
Game Leaders
Scoring
Pts
10
FGM
4
3FGM
2
FTM
0
Pts
10
FGM
5
3FGM
0
FTM
0
Pts
8
FGM
2
3FGM
1
FTM
3
Pts
6
FGM
2
3FGM
2
FTM
0
Players Mentioned
G
/ Men's BasketballG
/ Men's Basketball
G
/ Men's Basketball
F
/ Men's Basketball
G
/ Men's Basketball
F
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