Ball State University Athletics
Saturday, January 10
Amherst, Mass.
3:30 PM
Ball State University
4-12,0-4MAC
71
at
79
UMass
10-7,1-4MAC
1
2
F
Ball St.
25
46
71
Massachusetts
28
51
79
Photo by: UMass Athletics
Men's Basketball Falls 79-71 in First MAC Meeting with UMass
January 10, 2026 | Men's Basketball
AMHERST, Mass. – The Ball State men's basketball team led 38-36 with under 14 minutes to play, but UMass went on a 9-0 scoring run from that point and would go on to win 79-71 on Saturday afternoon at the Mullins Center.
Davion Hill put up 22 points, including 18 in the second half, seven rebounds and two assists to keep the visitors within striking distance late in the game. Hill hit a trio of 3-pointers in the final four minutes of the contest, the last of which cut Ball State's deficit to 75-69 with 47 seconds to go, but the Minutemen (10-7, 1-4 Mid-American Conference) held off the Cardinals to get their first MAC win.
Ball State (4-12, 0-4 MAC) got 12 points each from Armoni Zeigler (six assists, four rebounds) and Preston Copeland (five rebounds), while Mason Jones and Devon Barnes chipped in nine and seven points, respectively.
Hill hit a shot to give the Cardinals a 25-24 edge with just under three minutes to play in the opening period in a game that featured 16 lead changes, but the hosts scored the last four points of the half to take a 28-25 lead into the break.
UMass won the rebounding battle 36-28, but Ball State had more points in the paint (30-26) and second chance points (7-4). Each team generated 10 points off turnovers as the hosts committed two more giveaways (12-10). The Minutemen got to the free throw line 11 more times (20-29, 69 percent) than the Cardinals (13-18, 72.2 percent) for a seven-point disparity at the charity stripe.
Ball State went 44.6 percent (25-56) from the field including 34.8 percent (8-23) from distance while UMass shot 48.1 percent (25-52) on field goals and 37.5 percent (9-24) on 3-pointers.
Leonardo Bettiol paced UMass with 20 points and added eight rebounds and three assists, and Marcus Banks Jr., followed with 17 points.
The Cardinals will continue MAC play with a road game at Akron at 7 p.m. on Tuesday.
Davion Hill put up 22 points, including 18 in the second half, seven rebounds and two assists to keep the visitors within striking distance late in the game. Hill hit a trio of 3-pointers in the final four minutes of the contest, the last of which cut Ball State's deficit to 75-69 with 47 seconds to go, but the Minutemen (10-7, 1-4 Mid-American Conference) held off the Cardinals to get their first MAC win.
Ball State (4-12, 0-4 MAC) got 12 points each from Armoni Zeigler (six assists, four rebounds) and Preston Copeland (five rebounds), while Mason Jones and Devon Barnes chipped in nine and seven points, respectively.
Hill hit a shot to give the Cardinals a 25-24 edge with just under three minutes to play in the opening period in a game that featured 16 lead changes, but the hosts scored the last four points of the half to take a 28-25 lead into the break.
UMass won the rebounding battle 36-28, but Ball State had more points in the paint (30-26) and second chance points (7-4). Each team generated 10 points off turnovers as the hosts committed two more giveaways (12-10). The Minutemen got to the free throw line 11 more times (20-29, 69 percent) than the Cardinals (13-18, 72.2 percent) for a seven-point disparity at the charity stripe.
Ball State went 44.6 percent (25-56) from the field including 34.8 percent (8-23) from distance while UMass shot 48.1 percent (25-52) on field goals and 37.5 percent (9-24) on 3-pointers.
Leonardo Bettiol paced UMass with 20 points and added eight rebounds and three assists, and Marcus Banks Jr., followed with 17 points.
The Cardinals will continue MAC play with a road game at Akron at 7 p.m. on Tuesday.
Team Stats
BSU
UMass
FG%
.446
.481
3FG%
.348
.375
FT%
.722
.690
RB
28
36
TO
10
12
STL
10
5
Game Leaders
Pts
22
FGM
9
3FGM
4
FTM
0
Pts
12
FGM
3
3FGM
0
FTM
6
Pts
12
FGM
4
3FGM
0
FTM
4
Pts
9
FGM
3
3FGM
2
FTM
1
Players Mentioned
G
/ Men's BasketballF
/ Men's BasketballG
/ Men's BasketballF
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