Thursday, January 27
DeKalb, Ill.
8 p.m.
Ball State University
9-10,4-4MAC
74
at
67
Northern Illinois
5-12,2-5MAC
1
2
F
Ball St.
33
41
74
Northern Ill.
27
40
67
Photo by: Chad Smith
Cardinals Tame Huskies in #MACtion on Thursday
January 27, 2022 | Men's Basketball
DEKALB, Ill. – The Ball State men's basketball team claimed a tough road win against Northern Illinois on Thursday. Tyler Cochran returned to NIU and recorded a game-high 17 points to lead the Cardinals to a 74-67 victory.
Cochran notched his fourth-straight game in double figures as he had a game-high 17 points. He added six rebounds, a game-high three steals, and two assists. Miryne Thomas tallied 13 points, his fifth-consecutive game with double digits. Thomas added three rebounds and two assists. Payton Sparks chipped in with 11 points, a team-high eight rebounds, and one steal. Sparks has produced double figures in nine straight. Luke Brown posted a career-high 10 points on 50 percent from the field to go along with his assist and rebound.
The Cardinals started the game on fire and jumped out to an early 12-2 in the first four minutes of play. During the stretch, BSU was 5-of-8 from the field and 2-of-3 from 3-point range. The Huskies pulled within five, 15-10 with 13:25 left in the first half. Ball State used every bit of the early 12-2 advantage as the teams traded baskets the remainder of the first as BSU took a 33-27 lead into the intermission.
Momentum quickly shifted in favor of NIU, as the Huskies opened the second stanza on a 10-3 run and took a 37-36 lead with just over 17 minutes left in regulation. The Cardinals were resilient and rattled off a 7-0 run that ended with 13:04 left in the game. Ball State led 44-38 after the run.
The Huskies clawed back with an 8-0 run of their own to regain the lead, 46-44, with 11 minutes left in the game. The momentum started to shift after a big Jaylin Sellers dunk that tied the game 46-46. After the Sellers' dunk, Basheer Jihad scored Ball State's next four points to give BSU the 50-48 advantage. During a small one-minute span, Mickey Pearson Jr. scored the next four points for the Cardinals and extended the BSU lead to 54-51.
During the remaining eight minutes of the game, the Cardinal shooting started to heat up. Ball State was 2-of-3 from behind the arc and 7-of-8 from the free-throw line to close out the game. The Cardinals held a lead for 34:56 of the game's 40 minutes.
Tonight, the Cardinal bench came up huge with 29 points compared to the 15 from NIU. Once again, the BSU offense was strong in the paint and outscored its opponent 30-22. The Cardinals held the Huskies to 36.2 percent from the field and 26.1 percent from long range.
Keshawn Williams led NIU with 16 points and added three rebounds and a steal. Trendon Hankerson went for 12 points, six rebounds and a team-high three steals. Zool Kueth notched double digits with 12 points. Adong Makuoi and Anthony Crump each picked up 10 points for the Huskies. Kakuoi collected a game-high nine rebounds.
Ball State is set to play its third game in five days on Saturday inside Worthen Arena. The Cardinals will battle the Broncos of Western Michigan with a 3:30 p.m. tip.
From the Coach – Head Coach James Whitford
"I told the team in the locker room that I was really proud of them. I thought Miami was our best game of the year, this was our best win of the year. And the reason I say that is if you want to be able to beat a real good team, you have to win when everything's not going well. We won the game for two reasons in my eyes, we held them to 36 percent from the field, 26 percent from three, we defended at a high level and we got great bench play. I thought the bench play was great, our defense was great, resilient win tonight."
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*For tickets call 1-888-BSU-TICKET or 765-285-1474, or click here.
Cochran notched his fourth-straight game in double figures as he had a game-high 17 points. He added six rebounds, a game-high three steals, and two assists. Miryne Thomas tallied 13 points, his fifth-consecutive game with double digits. Thomas added three rebounds and two assists. Payton Sparks chipped in with 11 points, a team-high eight rebounds, and one steal. Sparks has produced double figures in nine straight. Luke Brown posted a career-high 10 points on 50 percent from the field to go along with his assist and rebound.
The Cardinals started the game on fire and jumped out to an early 12-2 in the first four minutes of play. During the stretch, BSU was 5-of-8 from the field and 2-of-3 from 3-point range. The Huskies pulled within five, 15-10 with 13:25 left in the first half. Ball State used every bit of the early 12-2 advantage as the teams traded baskets the remainder of the first as BSU took a 33-27 lead into the intermission.
Momentum quickly shifted in favor of NIU, as the Huskies opened the second stanza on a 10-3 run and took a 37-36 lead with just over 17 minutes left in regulation. The Cardinals were resilient and rattled off a 7-0 run that ended with 13:04 left in the game. Ball State led 44-38 after the run.
The Huskies clawed back with an 8-0 run of their own to regain the lead, 46-44, with 11 minutes left in the game. The momentum started to shift after a big Jaylin Sellers dunk that tied the game 46-46. After the Sellers' dunk, Basheer Jihad scored Ball State's next four points to give BSU the 50-48 advantage. During a small one-minute span, Mickey Pearson Jr. scored the next four points for the Cardinals and extended the BSU lead to 54-51.
During the remaining eight minutes of the game, the Cardinal shooting started to heat up. Ball State was 2-of-3 from behind the arc and 7-of-8 from the free-throw line to close out the game. The Cardinals held a lead for 34:56 of the game's 40 minutes.
Tonight, the Cardinal bench came up huge with 29 points compared to the 15 from NIU. Once again, the BSU offense was strong in the paint and outscored its opponent 30-22. The Cardinals held the Huskies to 36.2 percent from the field and 26.1 percent from long range.
Keshawn Williams led NIU with 16 points and added three rebounds and a steal. Trendon Hankerson went for 12 points, six rebounds and a team-high three steals. Zool Kueth notched double digits with 12 points. Adong Makuoi and Anthony Crump each picked up 10 points for the Huskies. Kakuoi collected a game-high nine rebounds.
Ball State is set to play its third game in five days on Saturday inside Worthen Arena. The Cardinals will battle the Broncos of Western Michigan with a 3:30 p.m. tip.
From the Coach – Head Coach James Whitford
"I told the team in the locker room that I was really proud of them. I thought Miami was our best game of the year, this was our best win of the year. And the reason I say that is if you want to be able to beat a real good team, you have to win when everything's not going well. We won the game for two reasons in my eyes, we held them to 36 percent from the field, 26 percent from three, we defended at a high level and we got great bench play. I thought the bench play was great, our defense was great, resilient win tonight."
Follow the Cardinals
*For tickets call 1-888-BSU-TICKET or 765-285-1474, or click here.
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Team Stats
BSU
NIU
FG%
.466
.362
3FG%
.304
.261
FT%
.765
.731
RB
35
39
TO
14
13
STL
6
7
Game Leaders
Pts
17
FGM
6
3FGM
3
FTM
2
Pts
13
FGM
3
3FGM
1
FTM
6
Pts
11
FGM
5
3FGM
0
FTM
1
Pts
10
FGM
4
3FGM
2
FTM
0
Players Mentioned
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